


The Art of the Meet Cute in the Alternative Universe

by geekinthejeep



Series: The Art of the Meet Cute in the Alternate Universe [1]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-02-08 15:13:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 78
Words: 28,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1945917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geekinthejeep/pseuds/geekinthejeep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or: How to meet your (probable) soulmate in an alternative universe in roughly three sentences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fame 1x01

**Author's Note:**

> With the summer off, I started a 3-sentence writing challenge for myself in which I wrote Jeff and Annie in whatever AU I was prompted with. I'll slowly be transferring all of them over here, but if you're in a hurry, they can all be found over on Tumblr. Have an idea for an AU not found here? Drop me a line here or on Tumblr (which does allow for anonymous messages) and I'll write it in three (or more) sentences!  
> Admittedly, I have taken some liberties with the term "three sentences," so watch out for gratuitous punctuation and rambling sentences.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Jeff/Annie, one of em's a famous person being interviewed by the other yes"

"And next up on tonight’s Golden Globe red carpet, I have with me Jeffrey Winger, star of this year’s new hit TV show, Greendale, who is nominated for ‘Best Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical’!" Okay, good, so she nailed that introduction; this was her own (potential) big break after all — she’d been called in as a last-minute replacement after the network’s normal interviewer had some sort of meltdown at a Panera Bread this afternoon and she’d always told Shirley that Vicki would snap sooner or later and - well, this is Annie’s chance, and that her chance just so happens to coincide with getting to interview ~~ridiculously attractive~~ Jeff Winger is a very nice bonus, “Tell me, Jeff: you’re up for a Golden Globe tonight and you, very deservingly, made last year’s issue of PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive; what has been the best part of this past year for you?”

Jeff flashes her that ridiculous smile of his that would make him look cocky if he weren’t so attractive and she thinks she finally understands what all of the romance novels she keeps hidden under her bed mean when they talk about a man being swoon-worthy, and then he opens his mouth and she’s a goner, “It’s been amazing, Annie — it is Annie, right? — but, I have to say, tonight, being here on the red carpet with you and all of these huge stars has to be the highlight.”

To Annie’s credit, she waits until the camera feed has moved on before she actually swoons — and there are certainly worse things than waking up on the red carpet in the arms of Jeff Winger.


	2. Guide to Hitchhiking 1x02

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from anonymous: "ooh ooh ooh jeff + annie and one of thems car has broken down on the highway in the middle of nowhere"

She’s still two hours outside of Denver, somewhere in the Arapaho National Forest (she thinks; there are so many national parks and state parks and national forests and state forests and wildlife refuges that they’re all kind of blurring together at this point), when she nearly runs over the man standing in the rain beside his smoking Lexus that looks like it barely made it off of the road and Annie’s left to make the split second decision of driving on with the sure chance of making it to her forensics conference in the city in one piece, or stopping to help the attractive hitchhiker sulking there in his expensive suit and who was probably a murderer, or at least a very well-dressed robber, if any of the crime dramas she watched could be listened to (and she also remembers a particularly bad day during her senior year that somehow ended up with her picking up a hitchhiker who spent the entire drive babbling at her about how she could be saved, but she preferred not to think about high school if she could help it).

By the time she realizes that this is definitely how horror movies start off, she’s already pulled over to the side of the road and unlocked the door and — and damn he’s just as attractive up close in a rogue hipster-turned-professional kind of way with a voice that would make her weak at the knees if she were standing as he says, “Tell me you’re heading toward Denver” and waits until she nods mutely (and she thinks he might look her over approvingly but, then again, she’s always been a romantic at heart), “Good, because I’ve got a presentation in four hours; I owe you one for this.”

And, okay, Annie _might_ be a little proud of how smoothly she slides up to the bar that night beside Jeff Winger, Professor of Law, forensics conference presenter, and former hitchhiker, and manages to nearly make the man choke on his scotch as she brushes against him and stands on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear, “How about you repay me with a drink and we’ll call it even, Professor Winger?”


	3. Fundraising 1x03

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from anonymous: "um, not really a ship, but i just really want a fic of annie bein cute and having a cupcake sale to raise money for her animal shelter or smth (maybe jeff's a customer?)"

Jeff realized that what he was doing was bordering on creepy right now, but the scene that had been playing out in front of his law office for the past two hours was too fascinating to pass up; he thought he had the girl’s pattern down and, sure enough, there was the sheepish grin and a bounce on the balls of her feet (she was wearing a dress covered in a kitten pattern, so that really shouldn’t have been doing things to him), a twirl of her brown hair around a finger as she says, “Hi, I’m Annie and I’m raising money to help the Greendale Human Society build a new kitten room!” and suddenly the flustered-looking fifty-something in front of her was digging into his pockets of his ratty jeans to shove another twenty dollars at her in exchange for a cupcake so pink and covered in rainbow sprinkles it looked like it had been shit out by a fairy — at this rate, the animal shelter her poster said she was raising money for would be able to feed their kittens bluefin tuna off of gold platters.

But he’s tougher than all of those weak-willed men as he leaves his office, and, besides, he’s a good enough guy to donate money to an animal shelter for _the sake of donating to an animal shelter_ and not because a young woman who barely looks (and dresses) old enough to be out of high school flashes him an adorable, shy smile and bats her eyelashes at him without even realizing what she’s doing and — and then Annie holds out one of those ridiculous cupcakes in pastel purple to him and says, “Would you like to buy a cupcake? All of the money goes toward the Greendale Human Society!”

He’s tougher than all of those weak-willed men, which is why she only gets twenty-five dollars out of him — along with a flustered promise to buy her coffee tomorrow afternoon to make up for the fact that he was an asshole who hadn’t thought to carry more money than that in his wallet today.


	4. Detecting Cliffhangers 1x04

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From Ameliasfairytales on Tumblr: "Jeff and Annie as detectives AU"

It was the case that had been plaguing the nation for nearly a decade, stories of an unknown man traveling from city to city across the country slipping coins with his initials (ACB) into the back pocket of his targets’ pants (a “calling card” of sorts as well as a way to mark his victims, they figured) before they were found dead by the end of the week — and now he had finally shown up in the small city of Greendale, leaving their small two-person detective team (Annie Edison, the young investigating prodigy, and Jeff Winger, the ace lawyer-turned-detective) to do what no one else had been able to do before them: solve the case.

They’d split up this morning to follow up on a few separate leads, and Annie was confident they were just days away from finding their perp as she jogged forward to link her arm through Jeff’s at their planned meeting place near the alleyway where they’d found their last victim (Garrett Lambert, 24-years old, unemployed, shot through the heart with a .22-caliber from behind two nights back), “So what do you say, _partner_? We close this case out by Friday, get the credit we’re owed, and then I _think_ you owe me a date.” she teased, leaning against his arm and batting her eyelashes up at him.

And she stopped short at the look of horror on his face, so out of place when she’d grown used to his air of smug confidence, and he patted her on the head and, with none of his usual bravado, said “Looks like we’re going to have to reschedule that date, Annie; I’ve been marked.” as he held out a silver coin emblazoned with the initials ACB.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a general reminder that I am very much still accepting and would really appreciate prompts, either through a message here, in the comments section, or in my askbox on Tumblr.


	5. Defense Against the Dark Arts 1x05

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Ameliasfairytales on Tumblr: "Jeff and Annie(slytherin and ravenclaw) hogwarts au." Set during the Battle of Hogwarts.

They had always known they would face no small amount of adversity, a Ravenclaw fifth-year dating a seventh-year Slytherin during a time when no one else seemed willing to associate themselves with the house that had produced so many of the Death Eaters wreaking havoc across the United Kingdom, and they had — teasing both behind their backs and to their faces, belongings disappearing if they took their eyes off of them for even a second, and, in the last month or so, promises to outright run them both from the school if they insisted on continuing their relationship — but all of that paled in comparison to the day Annie had to chase after the group of Slytherins being herded into the dungeons (whether they wanted to go or not) to drag her boyfriend back to the Great Hall.

Her hands were shaking violently as they reached out to grasp Jeff’s, letting the sea of people — students and professors alike — scramble around them, “We’re going to fight, aren’t we? We owe Hogwarts so much; the least we can do is stay here and help protect it, right?” she asked, her voice quivering as she wrapped her arms around Jeff’s waist, watching as her own house divided between those staying to fight and those trying to flee the castle while they had the chance.

If it were anyone else asking, Jeff knew it was more than likely that he would turn tail and run; he’d always been one for self-preservation over risking his neck for a losing cause, but that was why he’d learned long ago to look to Annie as his moral compass when it came to these types of things, “When you put it like that, I don’t think we really have any other choice.” he said, and held out his arm for Annie to slip her hand through, “Shall we, milady?”


	6. Alternative Calligraphy 1x06

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Ameliasfairytales on Tumblr: "In the pen episode 2x08, abed doesn’t stop jeff and annie from angrily taking off their clothes at each other, which leads them to leave the room or what ever you think would be cool as long as no one stops them lol au." Abed’s POV.  
> (A bit more than three sentences this time!)

When it came right down to it, real life really wasn’t that much different from a television show. Things followed patterns; people were predictable. For someone as talented as Abed himself was at following the patterns apparent in both life and television, it was easy enough to know how certain people would react in a given situation. He’d learned his lesson last year after the debate, though; people didn’t like to know that they were so utterly predictable. What reassured him — he liked when people made sense — scared others. So, he’d learned his lesson. He liked predicting these things on his own and just letting them follow their natural course. In this case, he’d seen the tension brewing between Jeff and Annie months ago. He knew how this was going to end, but he’d hoped they would get their act together without needing a push in the right direction. But, at this rate, they’d end up with… With a Friends where Rachel doesn’t get off the plane for Ross, a Boy Meets World where Cory chooses someone besides Topanga, a How I Met Your Mother that didn’t inevitably end with Ted and the mother together (it was inevitable, he knew it); a world that was confusing and wrong and made no logical sense.

Abed couldn’t deal with things that didn’t make sense, which was why he was putting aside his usual rule not to interfere to, well, interfere. Because the world needed to make sense, and for the world to make sense, Jeff and Annie had to be together.

He’d been waiting for his opportunity all semester, and he finally got it during their unplanned bottle episode (and did he ever hate bottle episodes; too many facial expressions and not enough context). The tension had been simmering all afternoon underneath the Puppy Parade announcements, and all it needed was a simple push in the right direction to ignite.

”- No! _You_ relax, Jeff! Or are you scared that if you do, my pen will fall out?!”

"You precocious little bitch!"

Okay, so maybe he hadn’t quite predicted the two of them stripping down to their underwear right in front of the study group as the start of their iconic relationship, but this was still his chance, “Okay, guys. Guys! Hey, guys, stop! You’re being completely illogical! You two can’t undress like this; the blinds are still open! Here’s what we’re going to do — Shirley, you get the blinds by the door. I’ll get the ones on this side. Troy, you get Pierce.” And he spun around, cocking an eyebrow at Britta impressively, “And, Britta. Leave your bag. They’re gonna need it.”

And, as he knew they would, each member of the study group scrambled to comply and he had them out the door and into the library before they’d even realized it, the door slamming shut behind them.

It was quiet for a moment, one lone student (Todd — he thought his name was Todd) staring at them incredulously from a computer station. Then, the sound of a wooden chair tumbling over and someone crawling over the study table and… A moan.

Troy was wide-eyed next to him, “Are they…? On the…? With the…?” He nodded knowingly at Abed’s smug grin, “That’s _awesome_.”

"Okay." And he pointed to each remaining member of the study group in turn, "Puppy parade? Puppy parade? Puppy parade?" Again, predictably, each of them nodded, even if Shirley was clearly trying her hardest not to say anything about the loud moaning coming from the study room.

And, by the next day, all was right with the world.

"So, Annie. Did you ever find your pen?" Britta asked, pulling Annie’s attention away from where she was making heart eyes across the table at Jeff.

"Hm? What pen?"

Yes, all was right with the world, but Abed’s job was never done.


	7. Medieval Flirtation 1x07

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Ameliasfairytales on Tumblr: "Jeff and Annie in medieval AU"

“Ser Jeffrey?” Annie squirmed in her spot just outside of the tiny grey and blue pavilion that had been so difficult to find amongst the swarm of similar multicolored tents that had popped up outside of the castle and, after a quick look around to reassure herself that everyone was suitably distracted, slipped inside - and had to quickly avert her gaze, cheeks turning pink as she focused intently on the cloth ceiling rather than the half-naked knight in front of her and twisted the circle of silk clasped tightly in her fingers, “I - I’ve brought you a favor, Ser. For luck this afternoon, if - if you might like to wear it and be my Champion in the crown tournament.”

She willed her blush to disappear as she shakily thrust the white silk garter toward him, heard the clinking of armor coming near and, when she’d worked up the courage to pull her eyes from the ceiling, found the knight kneeling at her feet, staring up at her with those stunning blue eyes that had caught (and now refused to relinquish) her attention in the previous day’s preliminary showings, “I would be honored to have your token, Milady. I vow to bring honor to Greendale on your behalf.”

Annie took his hand in hers and worked to wrap the token securely about his wrist where it would be evident around his worn, dull silver armor, “All I ask is that you come back to me safely, Ser.” she whispered, pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek before she turned away and was gone.


	8. The Study of Film Noir 1x08

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For anonymous on Tumblr, who asked for: "Jeff and Annie as detectives in 1940s like in those noir films"  
> Because they were both made for film noir-esque outfits. (With bonus picture from "The Big Combo" for setting)

He slid into the booth across the table from her in the poorly-lit diner in some rundown part of the city, loosening his tie as he flagged a waitress down, “So, Detective Edison, how goes your rogue hunt for The Bandit? Still think you can handle it all by your lonesome?” he asked, digging a flask out of an inside pocket of his suit to pour into the coffee that Annie had taken from the waitress and placed in front of him and - the liquor was taken from his grasp, a throaty chuckle answering him from across the table as Annie added a generous helping of the liquid to her own cup of tea.

The smile she gave him was sultry and would have brought a lesser man to his knees, long ringlets of brown hair swinging forward over her shoulders she leaned toward him, watching him as he took a long swig of his coffee, “You underestimate me, _Detective_ Winger. I’ve already solved it. ‘The Case Of The Century’, they’re calling it, and it was quite simple, really. The question is: have you?”

Jeff blinked sluggishly, horrified to find the world seemed to be going dark around him, “Wh - what did you -” “- I know you’ve already figured it out, and I can’t have you getting in the way of my case, can I? Just take a quick nap.” The brim of her hat brushed against his hair as she leaned down and pressed a delicate kiss to his cheek, “Sweet dreams, Jeff.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still accepting prompts, here or on Tumblr (where I am also GeekintheJeep)!


	9. Doctor-Patient Romance 1x09

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My own prompt this time: "Doctor!Jeff and Patient!Annie." (Because I'm embarrassingly clumsy and spent a long afternoon at the ER and wanted to write something self-indulgent.)

"Well, Miss Edison, the good news is that it’s a sprain. The bad news is that it’s a sprain. Congratulations." The doctor looks up from the crutches he’s placed next to her on the exam table, stunning blue eyes meeting Annie’s as his voice trailed off.

Annie wants to cry at the cruelty of the universe, at the knowledge that she’s sitting in front of an attractive older doctor with her foot propped up on a pile of pillows, her hair a frizzy, unstyled mess, and looking like she’d gotten dressed in the dark with two different patterns of floral between her blouse and skirt. And, as if the last hour of stumbling around the hospital for exams and x-rays weren’t enough to ruin any chance she’d had with the doctor, the only words she can find are, “So I don’t get a cast?”

The doctor seems to take it in stride, laughing as he adjusts the crutches for her, lifting one up to compare it to her height, “Afraid not. Sorry to disappoint.” he says, offering her a hand to help her stumble to her feet, “Why? Looking for an excuse to spend more time here?” And he grins, holding the crutches out to her, “Now, you can put weight on that ankle. Just don’t overdo it for a few days and you’ll be just fine. Meet me around front to finish your paperwork, then you can go home and give your roommate hell for ditching you.”

"Oh, I’m going to." Annie grumbles, sliding the crutches under her arms. Abed had better be ready to make her buttered noodles for the next few weeks; it was his Batman cape she had tripped over, then he’d disappeared with some explanation about how "hospitals are too confusing; too many emotions and all of the disorganization is overwhelming." Before that, though, she really just wants to go home and sulk and pretend the attractive doctor hadn’t seen her looking like such a mess.

Which would be easier if she didn’t take two steps with the crutches before nearly falling flat on her face. It’s only Doctor Winger’s arms wrapping around her waist that saves her, and he sets her upright, clearly trying to fight off a smile, “Maybe you’d be safer without the crutches?”

"Maybe you should make a house call and, you know, make sure I haven’t killed myself trying to use them." One of the crutches clatters to the floor as she slaps her hand over her mouth. And, in a clear sign that the universe clearly hates her, the floor doesn’t swallow her right then and there to spare her further embarrassment, "I’m sorry. I’m just - I’m just going to leave now. Thank you, I’m sorry, goodbye."

"I don’t do house calls," Doctor Winger calls after her, "but I definitely do dates! Say, this Friday at seven?"

Annie spins around, eyeing him doubtfully, “Will I be with the crutches by then?”

"You’ll be good as new." He grins back at her, leaning against the door frame.

"Then… Yes. Yes, I will go on a date with you, Doctor Winger. But make it six. You can buy dinner, and I’ll wear clothes that actually match." she says.

She can hear Jeff's laughter echoing behind her as he watches her hobble her way out of the clinic.


	10. Special Effects Makeup Application 1x10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In honor of the Face Off season premiere: "Contestant!Annie and Model!Jeff on Face Off."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’re not familiar with it, Face Off is a reality competition for special effects makeup artists where challenges usually center around science fiction and supernatural themes. You should watch it.

He settles back in the chair, watches as Annie runs back and forth through the workshop with only mild concern, gracefully dodging her competitors whose names he’s never even bothered to learn to deposit piece after piece for her prosthetic makeup on her desk, before, finally, she skids to a stop in front of him, a face piece held out in front of her, “I am so sorry - Can you just hold this? - I’m so far behind - I had to change my design at the last minute because stupid Chang’s makeup looked too similar - I’m going home this week; I just know it! - Everyone knows I got the hardest character; I mean, how do they expect me to make a character around Sagittarius?! It’s a centaur, Jeff! _A centaur_ with a big stupid bow and an attitude problem!” she rambles, shaking the prosthetic in her hands so emphatically that he worries it might tear right in front of his eyes.

He reaches forward, plies the face mask from her grip and clasps both of her hands between his own, brushing his thumbs over her knuckles reassuringly, “Annie. Annie, stop. You’re going to be fine. I mean, that guy across from us — Troy, right? — is in the middle of a meltdown and I think Britta is about ready to kill him. You worry every week, and every week you end up kicking the challenge in the ass.” he says, watching her shoulders slump slowly like he knew they would; she’s chosen him as her model for the Spotlight Challenge every week since the competition started (he’s relatively convinced — and extremely flattered to believe — that she threatened her fellow competitors away from ever choosing him for their makeups), so he’s pretty confident he’s picked up a few tricks to calm her down by now.

The corners of her lips twitch upward in the beginnings of a smile as she retrieves the face prosthetic and begins applying adhesive, “It’s only because I have a good model.” Annie murmurs distractedly.

He rolls his eyes, sitting back in his chair, “Just shut up, stop being so modest, and turn me into a horse-person. Do I get to be shirtless this week? I bet we’re great for the ratings.” he says before his voice is muffled by the latex face mask.


	11. Proper Courtroom Behavior and You 1x11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from anonymous on Tumblr: "Jeff and Annie square off against each other in the courtroom and sexy times ensues."

"No - but - Your Honor, wait!"  
"Mr. Winger, it’s over. Court is adjourned."

Jeff had known from the moment he met the eyes of the new prosecutor across the courtroom that he (and the case) was lost; she had smirked sultrily at him and it was like his entire argument (“My client is hard of hearing, Your Honor, and therefore could not have heard his Miranda Rights!”) had been thrown right out the window, and he would have been perfectly content to go drown his sorrows in a couple (dozen) glasses of scotch at the bar, hoping that with enough drinks he could erase the knowledge that he’d lost his first case in nearly three years to “Greendale’s youngest prosecuting attorney in the city’s history.”

But, to be fair, his client had been so, _so_ guilty and the new prosecutor was “So, _so_ hot.” (and he really liked the giggle that earned him in response) and, really, maybe there were worse things than losing, especially if it meant having Annie Edison (Attorney at Law, recent Harvard Law graduate, and “also very much single, just, you know, for your information”) straddling him over the judge’s bench, licking into his mouth and fumbling with the buttons on his shirt not even fifteen minutes after the courtroom had been cleared out for the night.

"This doesn’t mean - that I’m going to - to let you win again - tomorrow." he stuttered at her between kisses, and she pulled back just long enough to grin wickedly at him, trailing a fingernail lightly up his chest, "You’re not going to _let_ me win anything, Jeff. I’m going to win, and then you’re going to owe me a date tomorrow night.”


	12. How to Have a Romantic Coffee Shop AU 1x12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Ameliasfairytales on Tumblr: "Jeff and Annie meeting at a coffee shop, akwardly cute au."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one has the potential to turn into a full story if there's any interest?

Annie was most definitely _not_ creepy. It was more like she was just very dedicated. That was the only reason why she had learned the attractive lawyer’s _Modus operandi_ when it came to his daily visit to the coffee shop (Shirley, the lovely woman who owned the place, had said his name was Jeffrey and beamed at her and offered her a free cookie) and had her plan all set: she’d get there five minutes before three (when Jeff normally arrived) and just - just buy up the last of the chocolate chip muffins that he _always_ ordered and then she could offer half of one to Jeff and sit with him and they’d fall in love and get engaged at Disney World and get married and have two kids -

\- And she’d been late locking up her office for lunch and, by the time she’d gotten to Shirley’s Bakery, Jeff was already seated at his table _and_ all of the chocolate chip muffins were gone, which was how she found herself seated at her usual table _alone_ with a cup of salted caramel mocha and her own sadness for company.

At least, until a paper plate with a chocolate chip muffin on it slid into her view.

Blinking dazedly, Annie looked from the plate in front of her and up to stare at same man she’d been planning for weeks to get her opportunity with today. And, for his part, Jeff rubbed at the back of his neck, not quite able to meet her eyes, “I, uh, I know this is kind of creepy. But I noticed you were running late today and - and this was the only chocolate chip muffin left even though that’s what you usually order. So… I bought one for you?”

Annie bit her lip against the squeal of delight fighting to break free as she reached for a plastic knife to cut the muffin in half and pushing it back toward the center of the table, “We’ll split it? I’d feel awful if you had to go without your usual lunch because of me.”

As Jeff grinned back at her and slid into the seat opposite, Annie wondered if it was too early to start planning out their wedding colours.


	13. Getting a Date (and Setting a Date) 1x13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Jeff and Annie meet at a wedding AU"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might be another personal fix-it story.

She’s squirming in her seat, surrounded by people she has never seen before in her life and cursing Abed for choosing his dumb Inspector Spacetime convention over her, when her eyes meet his across the church halfway through the wedding before she hurries to bring her attention back to the couple at the alter, then again at the end of the ceremony as they’re slowly filing out of the church and he gives her a wink, and once more at the reception when she stands by the seat next to him and holds out her hand, “Annie Edison, apparently Shirley’s favorite customer, and maybe your dinner date for tonight?” she asks with all of the confidence she can muster, trying not to squirm as he looks up at her.

Then, finally, he grins and takes her hand, “My lady,” he says, giving a shallow bow, “Jeff Winger, Andre’s lawyer for his last divorce to Shirley, and your very willing dinner date.” and Annie sends a silent thank you out to Abed (though there was no doubt he had deserved the lecture she’d given him this morning when he’d announced he wasn’t going to the wedding with her) as Jeff pulls her seat out for her.

If, after a few drinks and a couple of rounds across the dance floor, she finds herself catching the bouquet and meeting Jeff’s gaze across the reception hall, then she doesn’t think she’s getting too far ahead of herself to start picking out their inevitable wedding colors.


	14. Romanticism of War 1x14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For anonymous on Tumblr: "jeff x annie, battlefield hospital during civil war or ww1 or 2"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went with World War II just because that’s where I focused most of my History studies. Trigger warnings for violence, war-related injuries, etc.

He walked with a limp and an utter refusal to use the crutch she had tried to force on him, a smile that was just this side of fake, wounds slowly turning to scars dotting his chest, an attitude that could knock down the fiercest soldier in the field hospital that he had honed through years of schooling to be a lawyer before the war but was never turned against her, and a sleeve that hung empty off the left side of his body — Annie thought he was the most stunning man she’d ever seen.

But tonight was their last in the field; the Führer had fallen, and Mussolini before him, and the United States was finally starting to call its people home, leaving her with only dinner tonight, sitting beside him with her legs dangling off the side of his tiny creaking bed, to work up her courage, “Not very long now and you’ll be back to your normal life; are you going back to Colorado to finish your schooling? Will they take you back?” she asked, her voice shaking too much to be casual as she peered up at him through her eyelashes.

Jeff nodded, pushing the unidentifiable mush that they called dinner around his plate, “I'd like to think this would be my opportunity to do some good with my life.” he said, staring back at her intently, then, “You should come with me; there’s a hospital there that could use someone with your skill.”

"I think I’d love that." After all, she’d been with him from the day he arrived from the battlefield until the day the war ended; she wasn’t going to let it part them now.


	15. "Save a Horse [Ride a Cowboy]" and Other Stereotypical Country Songs 1x15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For anonymous on Tumblr: "Cowboy! Jeff and Annie as a ranch girl"

The stable doors are rattling in their frame somewhere behind her and Annie swears she can barely hear herself think over the sound of rain pounding against the roof as she saddles Nathan up in his stall, the horse’s whickering barely audible over a crash of thunder as she cinches the final strap tight and mounts up, “I know; I don’t like it either. But it doesn’t take _this_ long to round up a few loose cattle.” she whispers, brushing her hand against the horse’s neck, “And someone has to save Jeff’s stupid city butt. I’ve gotten kind of attached to it - him. Him. I’ve gotten attached to _him_.” and she urges Nathan forward, out of the stable and into the storm, following the muddy trail Jeff and his horse had left some time ago.

She finds the stragglers from the herd fenced in, and Jeff’s horse, before she finds Jeff himself on the far side of the property, his clothes soaked through and his hat long since having given up on being useful against the rain while he tries to rope a particularly skittish cow that has wedged herself in a small thicket of trees, and the smile he gives her is too close to frustrated to be convincing, “You could have stayed in. I’ve almost got this.” he says, but gives the rope to her when she dismounts and holds her hand out for it.

"Mm’hm, I can see that. You’ve got it all under control, huh, cowboy?" she teases, having to yell to be heard over the storm as she ropes the cow easily and leads it toward the rest of the herd, "Cuddle with me tonight and we’ll call it even. And throw out that hat. It’s getting gross."


	16. Tragic Backstories as a Plot Device 1x16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For anonymous on Tumblr, who wanted: “j/a meeting at rehab, annie for pills, jeff for…?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note the prompt and appreciate that some pretty serious trigger warnings apply here, including alcohol and narcotics abuse, and some hints of self-harm. If any of those things trigger you, please please please skip this one. And please excuse me for skipping over some of the nitty-gritty details — I had to tread pretty carefully with this one, for reasons both personal and not.

It had been a long, hard fight that had led him to this exact moment, unpacking his bags into the tiny three-drawer dresser in the corner of his half of the tiny room painted a falsely cheerful pastel yellow.

Jeff hates it already.

All because he’d enjoyed a few drinks in the evening. Or, okay, a little more than a few drinks. But it hadn’t been a problem, really; he knew when he’d hit his limit, and being a lawyer was a tough job, so he kind of thought he deserved a break. Then he’d shown up to court _a bit_ drunk and made _a bit_ of a scene and spent _a bit_ of time in jail and, well, here he was. And here he was going to stay if he had any intention of keeping his job with the law firm. He just had to make it through the mandatory amount of time at Greendale Inpatient Rehab Center and then he could be on his way to pretending these next few weeks had never happened.

There was a knock on the open door to their room, and his gaze traveled from black Mary Janes and up stockinged legs to a pink and black floral dress and, finally, to the shyly smiling face of the girl standing in their doorway, twisting her brown hair absentmindedly around a finger and looking altogether too composed for someone trapped in rehab for an indeterminate amount of time, “Hi, um, I’m Annie. I’m in the room across the hall -” She pointed over her shoulder, “- so I guess that makes us new neighbors? I just, you know, thought I should introduce myself. I know how hard being here can be at first, so…” She trailed off, biting her lip.

He hadn’t planned to make friends here, but it’s hard to say no to her.

* * *

Being friends with Annie is nice in a way he didn’t realize friendship could be. There’s no pressure to compete; she’s not one of his coworkers constantly looking to pull the rug out from under him or throw him under the bus at the first sign of weakness. She’s just, genuinely, a nice person. A messed up person, yes; she shakes uncontrollably and can’t really explain why, she has a tendency toward random outbursts followed by rapid, incessant apologies, and she’s constantly picking at the skin around her nails without even realizing it. Then again, he’s quick to insult anyone in his line of sight and more than a little prone to random outbursts himself, so he figures he’s more than a little messed up, too.

She’d admitted quietly one night, with a shaking voice and her hands clasped tightly in her lap as they sat in the rec room with the couch and the TV to themselves for their new evening tradition of trashy reality TV, why she was there, “High school was rough. I was the smartest person there, but there’s no fun in being smart if no one will talk to you. I thought… I thought Adderall might be my solution, you know? I was more productive and more confident, and it was great. And then it wasn’t.”

And his heart goes out to her, this girl growing up in a world that puts so much pressure on the young to succeed when the opportunities just aren’t there anymore; this girl who put so much weight on her own shoulders that even the very addiction that brought her here, to this point in her life, was all about being _more_.

"I thought drinking enough would let me forget about all of the horrible people I’ve helped walk free at work." he responded, shrugging, "You’re a strong kid, Annie. You’ll do just fine outside of those doors."

He kisses her there on the couch, and she kisses him back, ten minutes before curfew, with the yelling of a TV celebrity chef playing as background noise.

* * *

He leaves before her, to his surprise, with a kiss on the lips and his cell phone number written on a piece of paper pressed into her hands.

The radio silence in those next few weeks is enough to drive him crazy, so he tries to keep himself busy. He leaves the law firm and applies to the local community college, which is looking for a new law professor.

He thinks it might be a change of pace.

The knock on the door comes as he’s unpacking his stuff, hoping to get the essentials out of the way tonight now that he’s finally in his new apartment  — smaller, more personal, and less about pretending to be someone he’s not than the last one — so that he can be closer to the college.

Annie is standing there waiting for him just outside the door, smiling shyly and clutching a pizza box in both hands. She looks amazing, with color back in her cheeks and hair that no longer hangs limp and dry around her shoulders.

She looks _alive_.

And when she holds up the box of pizza and says in a shaking voice that belies the confidence she’s clearly trying to hard to exude, “We still have a standing date for reality TV night, don’t we?” it takes all of his self control to actually take the box out of her hands and aim it in the general direction of the coffee table before he pulls her in for a searing kiss while she scrabbles to shut the door behind them.

The kiss feels a lot like the final pieces of his life finally sliding into place.


	17. Human Development and Spousal Interactions 1x17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr wanted: "Cute future AU of pregnant Annie and Jeff dealing with mood swings"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you as always for the kind responses!

It’s not necessarily their white-picket-fence-and-a-dog happy ending — they have a spacious apartment not far from Greendale and a crotchety old tomcat Annie had rescued from Star-Burns when the school demolished the stables — but Jeff likes to think it’s as close to a true happy ending as anyone with his cynicism balanced out by Annie’s optimism and their Greendale education can manage; at least, until the end of the spring semester happens to coincide quite neatly with Annie having to go on maternity leave in the last month of her pregnancy - then things aren’t always so happy when he’s suddenly being woken up and finds himself face to face with Annie’s ridiculous puppy eyes and a “Please, Jeff? This is partially your fault, you know.” that have him convinced to climb out of bed at midnight and run to the only all-night grocery store that carries the particular brand of ice cream she’s craving halfway across the city.

It’s nearly half an hour later by the time he stumbles back into the house with enough containers of Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream to stock the freezer for at least a week (or so he hopes; last time he did this she suddenly decided she was no longer craving Half Baked) and, unsurprisingly, Annie has managed the impressive task of starfishing herself out across the entire bed with the stupid cat, Reggie, pressed up against her side (and glaring at him like he’s plotting his murder), “Move over, you bed hog.” he says, nudging her arm back toward her side of the bed while she grumbles, “Yeah, I know, I know, but you’re not supposed to be sleeping on your back, and I’d rather not deal with you having a migraine tomorrow.” and he’s finally able to climb into bed beside her.

Annie smacks her lips and rolls onto her side, away from him, “Not a bed hog. You’re a - you’re a blanket hog. A… Rude blanket hog.” she says, batting at his arm as he drapes it over her stomach and he thinks she’s dozed back off until she mumbles sleepily, “…You’re not rude. I’m sorry. You’re a - an okay husband.”

"That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me." he answers, laughing quietly as he squirms back to dodge the slap aimed at his head.


	18. Earning Your Wings 1x18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For itsoneofthemuses, who prompted: "Jeff/Annie, Jeff as a cocky flyboy and Annie can be whoever/whatever you want” So Jeff is the experienced airline pilot, Annie is the new flight attendant.

Just as he’d promised, he’s waiting for her as she finally steps into the hotel restaurant after a long evening of paperwork to submit to the airline (a guy throwing a fit because he thought it was the airline’s fault he bought tickets to Spain rather than The Caribbean by mistake), still dressed in his uniform and leaning against the bar with this smug grin on his face that would probably annoy her if it weren’t so damn attractive on him, and the bartender is sliding something that looks frozen and fruity and very much alcoholic onto the tabletop beside him while _Captain_ Jeffrey Winger motions her over, “Still looking as pretty as ever after surviving your first Transatlantic flight. Told you I’d get you here safely.”

Annie moans around a sip of raspberry and tequila (she suddenly understand the appeal), pretending not to delight in the flush the noise brings to Jeff’s cheeks, “Mm, I guess you did. Let me make it up to you?” and, feeling brave, she trails a finger up his uniformed chest, letting herself toy with his gold Pilot Wings as she waits for him to nod, “Great! Meet me in the lobby at nine tomorrow; we’re going on a tour of the city!”

That seems to draw him up short, and he quirks a brow down at her before finally grabbing her hand from where it’s starting to rub over the epaulette on his shoulder, “Sounds like you’ve got yourself a date.”

"Get me back to Colorado in one piece in a few days and you can take me out for a real date." Grinning, she stands up on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek, then spins and makes her way out of the bar, proud of the way he stares after her.


	19. Lessons in Bookstore Flirting 1x19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For anonymous on Tumblr, who asked for: "Jeff and Annie met each other before going to Greendale"

"Are you - are you _hiding_ back here?” The man’s voice is incredulous, possibly because he nearly just stumbled over Annie sitting in between the rows of shelves he was shopping through, unable to see her considering the stack of books in his hands, or possibly because her response was to stare back at him with wide eyes as she blushed to the roots of her hair.

"I - um - no?" She struggles to remember why she’s there in the bookstore to begin with in the face of the attractive man standing in front of her, dressed in that way that clearly said ‘ _I put a hell of a lot of effort into this outfit but I don’t want to look like I care,_ ' and, “…Yes. I forgot it's senior prom tonight and I'm not going, _clearly_ , because I had meltdown and I had to drop out and I don’t want to leave because they’re all wandering around out there for dinner and I wasn’t exactly popular to begin with and now - and - I just can’t go out there.” she rants, and she’s _pretty sure_ she’s not crying.

The man shifts his books to one hand, sighs, and combs his fingers through his hair (and _wow_ is that distracting), “It’s only six. You can’t hide by yourself back here for another three hours, and I think I’d feel bad if I let you. I’m Jeff.” He offers her his free hand as she mumbles out her name in response, “Come on. There’s a coffee shop in here somewhere. Let me pay for these and I’ll buy you a coffee. Or a hot chocolate. Or whatever you drink.” and she takes his hand, lets him pull her to her feet and, for the first time all day, feels like things might actually be starting to look up for her.


	20. The Accidental Marriage Trope (And the Dangers of Drinking and Flirting) 1x20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For anonymous on Tumblr, who prompted: "Jeff and Annie got married one day after meeting."

Jeff’s still mostly asleep as he lays there, happy to relax for a little while longer before venturing back out into the heat of the Las Vegas summer; the bed is comfortable (and that extra money he shelled out for the room was _so_ worth it), the early-morning sunlight is spilling in through the window, a reassuring weight pressed up against him that smells vaguely of flowers and strawberries underneath the scent that seems to cling to everything in Las Vegas casinos - and that is about the point in the morning where his mind finally picks up on the fact that there is something very wrong with this whole scenario right as he’s shoved off the side of the bed while the other occupant shrieks, “What the hell?! Did you - did you break into my room?! Oh no. Oh god.”

He stares back in sleepy confusion and, if it weren’t for how weird the situation was, Jeff thinks he could come up with worse things to wake up to than a very pretty brunette in his bed staring down at her own hand with wide, stunning blue eyes in one of his t-shirts that’s starting to slip off her shoulder and the sunlight glinting off the gold band around her ring finger that very much matches the one he’s wearing, “Oh. Oh shit.” he agrees as he scrubs his hands over his face.

He remembers a long streak of wins at the craps table with Annie — a fellow traveler from Colorado — pressed up against his side as his luck, followed by an impressive number of drinks, a quick walk to the gaudy white chapel with the Elvis impersonator down the street because “We have a good thing going, right? We should just - we should just get married! We’re perfect together!”, and it all goes kind of hazy from there as he meets Annie’s eyes, “I’m - I’m a lawyer. I can fix this, I swear.” he mumbles, and hopes he sounds more confident than he feels.


	21. Show Business and Power Couples 1x21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For itsoneofthemuses, who asked for: "a fame/famous AU."  
> In which there is a tactful way to announce your relationship to your costar, and Annie’s not sure if her first Academy Award Red Carpet is it.

She clasps her hands tightly in her lap, staring down at them and willing them to stop shaking as the limo continues its slow, rolling pace through the procession of identical cars toward the Red Carpet; Annie’s new at this, has been preparing for weeks to know where she’s going and who to follow and how to deal with the fast-paced interviews that will be sprung on her at every turn and - and a hand slides into her view, grasping both of hers and carefully pulling them apart to interlace their fingers together, “Hey, you’ve got this; you’ll answer the same questions about the movie that you’ve been answering for months, say how honored you are to be nominated, we’ll leave them talking, then we’re both going to go in there and get the awards we deserve, okay?” Jeff encouraged, squeezing her hand.

It was easy for him to say when he’d been doing these events for over half of his life, Annie thought; he wasn’t the one who was half expecting to pass out the moment he stepped out of the limo, or to get weak in the knees the moment they walked by Joseph Gordon-Levitt inside the Dolby Theatre — and that was ignoring the fact that she’d have to survive the moment they outed their relationship to the interviewer for ABC — but she nodded anyway, “You know what? You’re right. Win or lose, we’re going to be on front pages all over the country tomorrow. Just picture it: ‘ _Jeffrey Winger and Annie Edison: Oscar Winning Actors and America’s Newest Power Couple._ ’” She grins, “ _But_ … I think you forgot to include our plans for _after_ the ceremony.”

"How could I forget about those? I’m just trying to survive the ceremony first, sweetheart." And he grabbed her hand as their limo rolled to a stop at the Red Carpet, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips as he helped her out of the car to the sound of cameras shuttering and interviewers shouting their names behind them.


	22. How to Find an Intern (and a Date) 1x22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For ameliasfairytales on Tumblr: "jeffs still a lawyer and annie is still at greendale but she has a job at his law firm, thats where they meet"

It hadn't been Jeff's idea to get an assistant -- rather, he'd been completely against the idea before Craig Pelton and Greendale Community College called in a favor ("Her name is Annie and she's responsible and intelligent and, oh, Jeffrey, you'll love her! Just don't love her more than me, okay?" "Yeah, sure, whatever. Can you get your hand off my chest now?") in the form of asking him to take on a hopeful future lawyer to get her some work experience -- but, a month in, he had to admit that the arrangement was working out much better than expected; his office was organized for the first time since the day he bought it, Annie genuinely seemed to enjoy doing some of the research work he couldn't stand (because who wanted to sit at a computer for hours on end reading up on Pierce Hawthorne's estate?), and she took care of all of the phone calls and setting up appointments and running errands that he didn't want to deal with.

And, as awful as this is to admit, she's much more stunning than anyone he would have expected to come out of Greendale Community College -- and just when Jeff had managed to convince himself that he had evolved beyond developing crushes.

She's waiting for him, as she promised early this morning she would be, squirming in her chair excitedly behind the desk in the main office when he gets back after a long day at court (Vicki Jenkins versus the estate of Pierce Hawthorne), and Jeff lets his briefcase hit the floor with a thud as soon as he's in the door and sinks back against the wall with a sigh, "You were right; Pierce's half-brother didn't even want to fight the suit. We won." he announces, pride seeping in around the exhaustion.

He hears Annie let out a squeal, the crash of her chair tipping backward against the bookshelves, and, next thing he knows, her lips are on his, hands on either side of his face, tongue licking into his mouth, and all he can do is stare in stunned silence when she pulls away and says, "We should go out and celebrate. Your treat."

"Yeah. Yeah, that sounds like a plan."


	23. Making Buttered Noodles and Other College Diet Staples 1x23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For anonymous on Tumblr, who prompted: "AU Jeff and Annie meet at the grocery store when Annie can't reach something."

They walk by each other every week in the grocery store without ever saying a word, so it's with no small amount of amusement that he watches as the girl in the pretty floral dress and Mary Janes eyes the shelves in front of her, staring determinedly at the box of pasta about a foot beyond her reach before she leans down, sets her basket of groceries on the floor, pushes up the sleeves of her pastel purple cardigan, and - "Whoa, hey, wait, hold on!" Jeff says, rushing forward to stop her with a hand on her shoulder while he reaches up to retrieve the box of noodles and drop it in her basket for her, beside the gigantic tub of butter and the bottle of white wine, "I don't think it's worth risking your life for pasta. I doubt your date would take that well. Jeff, by the way."

She clasps his hand briefly, "Annie. And, no, no, there's no date! Unless you count a night in with Law and Order on Netflix. This is for my roommate. He, uh, eats a lot of buttered noodles, so I thought I'd stock up. But, thank you." She brushes a strand of hair behind her ear as her cheeks tint pink, then leans down to retrieve her basket (and he doesn't want to say that she looks like she's struggling with the weight of it, but, well) and, by the time she straightens up, there is a firm set to her lips, "You should let me make it up to you. You know, for saving my life and all." she says, corners of her lips twitching upward, "Maybe, over dinner? I have wine. I'll even make something other than buttered noodles."

"Who said I wasn't okay with buttered noodles?" He grins when she rolls her eyes back at him, "You've got yourself a date, Annie." And to think he'd been trying to work up the courage just to ask her out to coffee for weeks.


	24. Reintroduction to Spanish 1x24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For ameliasfairytales on Tumblr, who asked for: "in the original pilot script annie makes the study group but no one comes, so the au is that jeff needs help in spanish and abed told him that this super smart girl made a study group so he goes au"  
> I apologize in advance for any potential mistakes with my Spanish. It's been a few years.

She rearranges the array of pencils, paper, books, and the plate of cookies in the middle of the table, biting her lip and fighting to keep her eyes from wandering to the door and the clock again; she knows without even looking that it's been nearly forty-five minutes since the meeting time she'd included on all of the posters she'd put up around campus and, clearly, college isn't going to be the improvement over high school -- her "fresh start" after losing everything -- that she thought it would be, and she opens her backpack to start repacking everything when there's a knock on the door behind her and a man clears his throat, "Um. The weird kid -- Abed? -- said some really smart girl had started a Spanish study group? Is this it...?"

The man standing in the doorway is entirely empty-handed, without even a sign of a backpack, but at that moment, he was just about the most amazing thing she had ever seen (and attractive to boot) and this feels like _her moment_ , "Y-yes! This is it! This is the Spanish study group! The study group for Spanish! _El grupo de estudio de Español_!" she babbles, waving her arms to encompass the whole (empty) study room, "Come in, come in! _Siéntate_! _Me llamo_ Annie, and I thought we should start with the basic conversation words and greetings and vocab and all of that!" she says, waving him into the room as she pulls out a chair for him.

He stares at her for a moment, then shrugs as he takes his seat, "I didn't understand half of that. I'm in the right place. Little quiet in here, though." and he reaches for a sheet of a paper and a pencil, continuing before Annie can say anything, "Jeff, by the way. Now what do you say we ace this stupid test on Friday and we'll make this the coolest group of losers on campus?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My headcanon for this is that Jeff was totally aiming for a “I want to pass but not get an A because I’m too cool to put in effort” grade until he saw Annie and decided he couldn’t let her down like that.


	25. Pascal's Triangle Simplified 1x25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For ameliasfairytales on Tumblr, who asked for: "originally in 1.25 britta was going to go to jeffs apartment and annie would have just been in a shirt or something when she opened the door and it would be clear that annie and jeff were sleeping together"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I absolutely adore her, I hope that I managed to make this as Britta-friendly as possible. Britta POV.

Even as she stands there in front of the door to Jeff’s apartment, Britta isn’t quite sure she knows what she’s doing — she’s probably gone back and forth between wondering if she should apologize for dropping the “I love you” bomb in public (and after she’d ranted about the grossness of public proposals last week!) or if she should demand a response from Jeff “I Run Away from Awkward Situations” Winger; what comes out of her mouth when the door finally opens is, “I demand to apologi - Annie?!” which, in all honesty, is a much better reaction than she would have expected out of herself, given the situation.

After all, she’s not sure there is a great way to respond when face to face with Annie in Jeff’s doorway, hair still wet from a shower and dressed only in a plain grey t-shirt that looks positively monstrous on her and a pair of plaid boxer shorts slipping down one hip, and then her head tilts to the side as she stares back at Britta in equal confusion, “Britta? How did the Transfer Dance go last night? Were you queen? …Do you want to come in? Jeff’s making breakfast.” she says, pulling the door open wider to reveal Jeff back in the kitchen while the smell of eggs and bacon wafts out of the apartment.

"No. No, I’m good. I’d hate to third wheel whatever this is. I’m sure Troy could use some rescuing from Pierce or something." Britta says, waving her hands, "And, no. Some girl named Danielle won. But that’s okay. It was lame anyway." and she pauses for a moment before nodding at the interior of the apartment and raising her voice, "So… He’s a bad lay, _right_?”

Then, she pulls the door shut, lips twitching upward as Annie’s laughter and Jeff’s “I heard that!” echo after her.


	26. Setting the Mood for Date Night 1x26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For itsoneofthemuses on Tumblr: "Serial killer AU!"

She’s scrubbing down the sink and moving the knives back into the block on the counter with gloved hands, humming along quietly to the pop song playing on the radio, when Jeff steps into the kitchen and presses a kiss to Annie’s waiting cheek, his stunning blue eyes bright and wild, “Hey, sweetheart. You ready to head home? I think you promised me a date night.” he whispers into her ear while his hands trail down her sides.

She grins, turning to place her hands on either side of his face and pull him down for a real kiss while she slaps his hands away from her backside, “You’ve cleaned everything up in the living room?” and waits for his nod before she’s sliding the oxy cleaner back under the sink and snapping the gloves off of her hands to slide into a plastic shopping bag beside the dirty sponge and the paper towel Jeff brought with him from the other room, “Good. I know the people who are going to have to clean up after us in the morning.” she says, grabbing his hand and letting him lead her out of the house, the door snapping shut behind them decisively.

Jeff has already left to teach his early class at Greendale Community College the next morning when she’s woken up by the department calling her to come in ASAP about a suspected murder-suicide at Richie and Carl’s house and she knows that, if she plays her cards right (and, five years in, she always has), she can be back in time to surprise Jeff at the school for dinner.


	27. Jeff and Annie Versus the Fake Married Trope 1x27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Ameliasfairytales on Tumblr: "Jeff and Annie as secret agents and their cover is to pretend to be a married couple."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was very much inspired by the Chuck episode "Chuck Versus the Suburbs."

He’s barely pulled his Lexus into the driveway before Annie is running out the door toward him, dressed in a stunningly flattering blouse and floral skirt covered by a stereotypical white apron and her heels clicking loudly against the pavement, “Oh, hi, honey - Mmmph!” and he’s cut off mid-sentence as she throws her arms around his neck, the sunlight glinting off her very large, very expensive diamond wedding ring as she pulls him in for a searing kiss, licking her way into his mouth right there in the middle of the driveway for all the cul-de-sac to see.

"You’re home just in time for dinner! How was work?" she exclaims and, sure enough, there’s a wolf whistle from the gross fifty-something year old man who lives across the road with his third wife, while Annie pulls away with a roll of her eyes, "I broke into his house earlier while he was at work and his wife was ‘visiting’ the next door neighbor. She’s the one we’re after. For a spy, she’s not very good. Everything’s right there on her computer. She didn’t have it password protected or anything!"

She sounds so offended that Jeff has to grin as he pulls her back in for another kiss, “I love it when you talk spy.” he says, ignoring their neighbor’s increasingly crude cheers, “So, what do you think? Wait until he sneaks out to bang the other neighbor tonight, break in, and arrest her then?”

"I like it." She reaches for his hand, and he has to scramble to grab his (empty) briefcase from the driveway as she drags him back toward the house, "But, first… I really did make dinner, and I am not going to let it go to waste. I even bought wine."


	28. Thievery in Times of Galactic Warfare 1x28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For sluthousee on Tumblr, who asked for a Guardians of the Galaxy AU.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took some liberties with the canon the movie set up, and there are some (relatively small) spoilers from the movie. Set sometime right before the Battle of Xandar.

He watches as the [Krylorian](http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Krylorians) paces around his M-ship, her fingers trailing along the red detailing of one of the lower panels even as her shockingly bright blue eyes continually return to the view of the sky outside the hangar where the sound of cannon fire seems to be getting louder and louder by the second, and he finally steps out from his hiding place in the shadows when he sees her reaching into her bag for a laser lock pick set, “Excuse me?” Jeff says, and the girl startles so dramatically that he thinks its a wonder she didn’t hit her head off the wing of the ship — it’s a shame she’s trying to steal his ship, because she’s really quite stunning, “Yeah, hey, hi. That’s mine — I won it fair and square in a bet two days ago — and I need to get the hell out of here before _that_ -” and he points toward the window where the Dark Aster has finally entered the Xandarian atmosphere, “- kills us all. Now should I leave you to steal someone else’s ship, or do you want to hitch a ride?”

She looks around her at the remaining spacecraft, then back to him with a roll of her eyes, “None of these other ships are even worth stealing.” she says disdainfully, “Besides, wouldn’t it have been a story, to say I stole a ship from Jeff Winger, supposedly one of the greatest thieves this side of the galaxy?” and she shrugs, climbing into the ship after him and making herself right at home in the passenger seat as she holds her hand out to him, “Annie Edison. Now are you going to get us out of here before Ronan destroys the planet, or…?

Jeff stares back at her consideringly (and with what might be some amount of pride), “As in the bounty hunter Annie Edison?” and her smug grin is answer enough as he guides his ship out of the hangar and in the opposite direction of the approaching _Dark Aster_ , “Alright. I think this is the start of a great partnership, Annie.”


	29. A Beginner's Guide to Criminal Law 1x29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For anonymous on Tumblr: "Lawyer Jeff meets Detective Annie during a case"

Jeff taps his fingers against his desk, glancing toward the clock on the wall with growing irritation as the minutes ticked by and it got closer and closer to six — nearly two hours since the station had promised they’d have someone stopping by to deliver the case details and the reports of the preliminary investigation to him so that he could begin the long process of putting Alex “Star-Burns” Osbourne behind bars for an impressively long list of infractions — and, finally, the knock on his door comes right as he reaches for his briefcase to begin packing up for the night, “It’s about time. Much longer and we’d have to let the guy go before I could even charge him.” Jeff grumbles, waving his hand for the files as he works on waking his cranky computer.

He regrets it, though, when the files are placed gently on the desk in front of him and the person standing in his office is most definitely not the grumpy old man he’d suffered through a phone call with early this morning; rather, she’s young and already dressed in her street clothes for the evening — and undoubtedly a much more welcome sight that any of the city’s police he’s worked with before, “Jeff, right? I’m so sorry I’m late! He had two separate properties to start documenting and I am working with the laziest damn - Just. Sorry. Here’s the case file. I’m Annie Edison, the lead detective on the case. I’ll be the one working with you for the remainder of the investigation.” she says, holding her hand out to him.

"Detective Annie Edison, huh? I’ve heard a lot about you. The youngest detective in Greendale history. Pretty impressive." Jeff says, and Annie is smiling bashfully back at him as he shakes her hand, "Could I interest you in walking me through the details over a late dinner, maybe?"

No one can doubt that they make a good power couple, he decides, when their perp is found guilty a few weeks later.


	30. Slow Dancing, the Apocalypse, and First Dates 1x30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For a certainbakemono on Tumblr, who suggested: "Jeff and Annie prompt! The end of the world is coming and they are slow dancing with one another. Person A whispers the song lyrics to Person B." and sluthousee who wanted an "about to die" AU.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is angstier than I'm used to writing, so I hope I've done it justice. The link to the song used is in the text -- "We Might Fall" by Ryan Star, a personal favourite of mine.

She's in her usual seat at the table, head resting on the table and staring at the beat up Discman that is miraculously still running on its same old batteries, playing quiet [music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU5IU1BZdQI) he's heard her listening to a lot through the years from the headphones and into the silence of the room, and Jeff doesn't know why he ever expected to find her anywhere else, "You're choosing to spend the end of the world alone in the study room, really?" he teases gently as he kneels down beside her, brushing a hand through her hair.

Annie shrugs, lifting her head to glance around the study room, at the chairs laying on their sides and papers scattered everywhere, at the shattered windows and the fallen blinds, "Not alone. I knew you'd find me eventually. It seemed fitting, I guess, to end up here." she admits, pushing herself to her feet, "Consider it that first date you promised me."

"If it's a date, then... Maybe you could dance with me?" She slides easily into his arms when he opens them to her, pulling her into a slow swaying dance to the music playing from the Discman as she presses her face into the fabric of his flannel shirt.

He has to crane his neck to bury his nose against her hair, and he can just make out her quiet whispering beneath the sudden blaring of sirens, " _Lying on the grass now, dancing for the stars... Maybe one will look on down and tell us who we are... We might fall._ "


	31. Introduction to Indie Folk Music 1x31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For ameliasfairytales: "jeff and annie meet at a music festival(I don't know why but I want this all of a sudden, plus bonus point if Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is playing in the distance:)"

She's dancing in place, covered in dirt up to her knees with her shoes kicked off and lying nearby, a hand holding the wide-brimmed straw hat she's wearing to her head while her floral sundress swishes around her thighs - and Jeff is utterly entranced by her, their eyes meeting time and again through the small crowd between them.

And then she turns to face him again as the next [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHEOF_rcND8) starts, tilts her head to the side, and holds her hand out to him, motioning him over from his spot on the ground with a wave of her fingers, "I'm Annie!" she yells over the music coming from the stage, laughing joyfully as she grabs both of his hands and pulls him into a swaying, clumsy dance.

"Jeff!" he answers, and his grin is wild as Annie leads him into a spin, dirt kicking up around them while she sings along to the music.

" _Home, let me come home,_  
 _Home is wherever I'm with you_ "


	32. Paranormal Investigation and the Art of Couples Costumes 1x32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For anonymous on Tumblr, who asked for: "Jeff and Annie dress up as Mulder and Scully for Halloween"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was mostly my chance to make a few “Annie doesn’t understand dated pop culture references” and “Jeff really did put effort into his costume this time. Really.” jokes. (With X-Files picture for reference!)

Dean Pelton eyes them both up and down when they arrive in the cafeteria where the party is already in full swing (the punch bowl is clearly already spiked, and Garrett has quite obviously already been in it, the result being an image that Annie will never be able to wipe from her mind), his face surprisingly judgmental for a man dressed as Grumpy Cat in head-to-toe fur, “Really, Annie? I didn’t expect Jeff to wear a costume — you look good anyway, Jeffrey — but I expected more from you.”

"What’s wrong with our costumes?" Annie asks, brows furrowing as she fiddles with her FBI badge, and, sure, both she and Jeff had already owned the suits they were wearing but they weren’t about to go dropping money they didn’t have on costumes, "We’re paranormal investigators. From… From that old TV show Jeff likes."

"The X-Files. Mulder and Scully. Give us some credit for finally figuring out the couples costumes. Annie wouldn’t let us be Adam and Eve, so we thought this would be funny or something." Jeff says, draping an arm over Annie’s shoulders, "Now, if you’ll excuse us… Maybe you should go stop Garrett before you have a lawsuit on your hands."


	33. New Houses, Seduction, and 3 AM Tea 1x33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I saw this post on Tumblr: "you’re safe as long as you don’t imagine your otp slow dancing to ‘the way you look tonight’ in their pjs in the kitchen of their new house at 3am with their heads resting on each other’s shoulders if you do imagine that then you’re ruined im sorry" and couldn't help myself.

_Some day, when I’m awfully low_   
_When the world is cold_   
_I will feel a glow just thinking of you_   
_And the way you look tonight_

He leans against the door frame, watching with a sleepy, fond smile as Annie moves around the kitchen, dressed only in one of his old t-shirts and her underwear and humming quietly to the [music playing from her iPod](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e5HOkhFfVU) even while she pauses, hand halfway up to a cupboard, trying to remember where they’d chosen to put away the mugs, and then she turns to him, her finger hooked through a Greendale coffee cup, “Tea?” she asks.

Jeff supposes it shouldn’t surprise him anymore when she just inherently knows that he’s there, “Please.” he says, and joins her by the kitchen island, sliding a hand along her waist, “What are you doing up? I thought you were going to ‘ _sleep for days._ ’”

"Mm." She shrugs, bumping him with her hip as she sets the kettle on the stove, "It seemed like a waste. Our first night in our house, I guess I just wanted to stay up and see the sunrise. …Is that weird? It’s weird."

"Annie, in the saga of weird that makes up our lives? This doesn’t even register. A little sappy, maybe, but not weird." he says, retrieving the box of tea from the cupboard that he knows Annie will never be able to reach on her own.

"No, sappy would be asking you to dance with me right now. I love this song." Annie points out with a smile, reaching for his hands and pulling him close to press her forehead against his shoulder.

Laughing, he rests his chin against her hair, “It’s a good thing I like you so much. Just don’t expect me to sing.”

She slaps him on the arm, rolling her eyes affectionately, “Jeff? Shh. Be quiet and dance with me.”

_Lovely … Don’t you ever change_   
_Keep that breathless charm_   
_Won’t you please arrange it? ‘Cause I love you_   
_Just the way you look tonight_


	34. A Guide to Following the Rules 1x34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For itsoneofthemuses, who asked for a "Real" College AU: Professor!Jeff and TA!Annie.

She trails her fingers along the edge of the oak desk, blue floral skirt swishing around her knees as she paces around it over and over again to the sound Jeff’s voice in a heated argument with a student in the background, “You refused to attend half of my classes -” “ _You_ refused to attend half your classes! Your TA taught most of it!” “- and you wrote on the final that a suspect has to be read their Melissa Rights! No. You failed. End of discussion.” and she grins, listening to the sound of stomping as the student storms out of the office while she pulls herself up onto the edge of Jeff’s desk, waiting for him as he walks back over, “Grades are in, my office is packed, you graduate tomorrow, and I have a date with a bottle of scotch and getting too drunk to have to sit through graduation tomorrow. Get out of here and enjoy your night, Annie.” he says, teasing.

Her smile softens as she reaches out to play with Jeff’s tie, a ridiculous pink and purple plaid thing she’d bought for him as a joke for his birthday, “Aren’t you forgetting something, Professor?” she asks, peering up at him through her lashes, delighting in the way he gawks back down at her, “I graduate tomorrow, which means _I’m_ no longer a student. I think we had a deal.”

He huffs out a laugh, rolling his eyes, “No, I think _you_ had a deal. You were the only one worried about the school’s dating rules. We could have been doing _this_ -” He leans down, slides his hand around the back of her head, and pulls her in for a kiss, “- for half a year by now if I’d had my way.” and it’s worth the wait, anyway.


	35. A Guide to Meeting the Hot New Neighbor 1x35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ameliasfairytales on Tumblr suggested a “brand new neighbours au,” so here it is — Annie trying to welcome Jeff to the building.

She lifts her hand to the door then pulls back, shifts from one foot to the other, runs her fingers through her hair, mumbles “This was dumb. I shouldn’t be doing this. Why am I doing this?” and switches the plate she’s holding to her other hand, “Because he’s a new neighbor and he’s hot and I didn’t see a wedding ring.” she says decisively and, before she can talk herself out of it, knocks on the door, plastering a smile on her face just before it opens, “Hi! My name’s Annie. I live in the apartment next door and I wanted to be the first one to welcome you to the building.”

He scrambles to reach for the the plate of cookies when she thrusts it at him, “Oh, thanks? I’m Jeff.” he says, shifting the plate to one hand to offer the other to her, “Uh, well, the place is kind of a mess still, but I just ordered a pizza… You know, if you haven’t had dinner yet and wanted to come in?”

"Sounds like a date! …Or, not a _date_ date, but a date. Like a friend date. Not that I’m presuming that we’re already friends or anything, but -” She stops herself suddenly as she watches a grin spread across Jeff’s face, then she takes a breath, and tries again, “Yes. I’d love that.”


	36. The Post-Apocalyptic Survival Guide 1x36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An ambiguous post-apocalyptic Jeff x Annie AU, as suggested by itsoneofthemuses on Tumblr.

He follows a few paces behind Annie, pretending he’s not struggling under the weight of bag upon bag of canned food in his hands and staring at the quiver of bolts strapped across her back, her brown hair that she would be horrified to know has gone frizzy in the heat of a Colorado afternoon in July, her torn and dirty floral dress, both of them knowing and pointedly refusing to acknowledge that the bit of smoking wasteland — nearly identical to every other bit of smoking wasteland that the world has been almost entirely reduced to — that they’re trudging across was the school they were all supposed to be in the day that the world went to hell; they have to dig through the rubble to find the trapdoor down to the hidden computer lab, and then Annie’s shouldering her crossbow and holding out her hands for some of the bags as they quickly slip underground.

Jeff can see Annie’s shoulders slump in relief once the trapdoor is shut behind them even as she’s digging through one of the bags for a can of food, and he reaches forward, pulls her against him, and wraps his arms tight around her as he finally lets himself relax while she sags against him, “Just - for the record - there’s no one I’d rather spend the end of the world with.” he admits, and knows it’s the truth; he’d be dead by now if it weren’t for her uncanny (and slightly terrifying) ability to wield the crossbow they’d found in the wreckage during one of the first days.

She slaps his arm, rolling her eyes, “I always knew you were a sap, Jeffrey Winger, but who would have thought it would be the apocalypse to bring it out of you?” she teases, and, staring back up at him, she finally smiles again for the first time in over a week.


	37. Romance in Emergency Room Purgatory 1x37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For ameliasfairytales over on Tumblr, who suggested a "meeting in the E.R/A&E au!"

The receptionist behind the desk is watching him with an annoyed look on her face as Jeff slowly makes his way back through the waiting room, poorly-bandaged hand resting very pointedly against his head while he slumps back into the same seat he’s already occupied for nearly two hours at this point, and the girl in the chair behind him stirs with a groan, eyes squinting against the harsh glare of the hospital lights, “Wassss goin’ on?” she slurs.

He thinks he heard her say her name was Annie, and she’s been waiting here nearly as long as he has (something about a concussion and how she would never go ice skating again), “Same thing that was going on half an hour ago. Not much.” he says quietly, handing over one of the chocolate bars he’d brought back from his adventure down the hall to the vending machine, “I thought you could use this. Consider it my one good deed for the day or something.”

Annie’s grin is blinding — and her eyes still slightly unfocused — as she takes the chocolate bar from him, “I love you.” she announces, “…Sh-should get married.”

"Maybe you should take me on a date, first." he says, chuckling and letting her slump against his shoulder.


	38. Survival Guide to Meeting the Family 1x38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For anonymous on Tumblr, who wanted Jeff and Annie meeting Jeff's mother. So, a semi!AU, I suppose?

He shifts his weight from one foot to the other and back again, staring at the peeling white paint of his mother’s front door with trepidation. He knows Annie is watching him patiently from a step behind on the porch, can feel her understanding through their clasped hands.

"We can just go back to your place, if you want. Turn it into a date night! You know, order in, watch a movie… Make out on the couch." She swings Jeff’s hand between both of hers, her smile patient, and he knows that she’s giving him an out, knows that she knows what a big step this is for him.

He has never in his life brought a girl home to introduce to his mother. In high school, it was because he was ashamed of the tiny little house with the leaky roof and the secondhand furniture in a way that only a teenager still unlearned in the world could be. He’d been convinced that any girl he brought home would run for the hills the moment she saw the place. In later years, he had still been ashamed, but for different reasons. After all, no one would stick around long enough to make the introductions necessary, and he’d hated the idea of getting his mother’s hopes up like that.

It would be so easy to fall back into old patterns, to turn around right now and head home without his mother ever knowing the difference.

But he looks back at Annie, sees her smiling at him, and Jeff knows he can’t do that. She doesn’t talk much about her family; what he knows has been learned over the course of years of being around her, when little pieces of information slip out before she realizes what she’s saying. It’s obvious that family is hugely important to her, even if she doesn’t really have one of her own. Not a family she’s related to by blood, at least; he likes to think that he, and the rest of their friends at Greendale, have become her new family. They care about her more than the mother who abandoned her when Annie chose to bravely confront her addiction to Adderall, and more than the father who meekly went along with his wife’s decision and left an eighteen-year old to fend for herself in the world.

So, yes, he does have to do this. He owes her at least this much; he wants to give her that family that she never had.

"No. No, this is important. I am serious about this relationship, and I want to take this step with you." he says and, before he can chicken out of it, he raps his knuckles against the door.

All of the anxiety is worth it for the way Annie beams back at him.

And then his mother is pulling open the creaking door and dragging him inside for a hug with a surprising amount of strength for her tiny, worn body, chastising him for taking so long to visit (“You could have called! Sent an email! Facebooked! Anything to let me know you’re still alive!”) and he knows that he’s made the right decision when she peers around him, eyes Annie, and looks back up at him with a grin, “My Jeffrey, bringing home a girl to his mother! …Well?! Introduce us!”

"Mom. This is Annie. My - my girlfriend." The words are barely out of his mouth before he finds himself pushed aside while his mother rushes to embrace Annie, practically bouncing in her excitement.

Later, after they’ve had their fill of lasagna, he sits at the tiny kitchen table, watching Annie play with the cat on the floor of the living room, when his mother turns to him, “I knew you were in love with her before you did. All of these Facebooks: ‘Annie this’ and ‘Annie that’ and ‘Annie did this thing today’. You’ve had it bad for a long time.”

"Mm. It just took me a little longer to catch on." he admits, pondering the idea of getting a kitten for Annie for her birthday coming up. She practically already lives at his place, anyway; they just need to make it formal, so why not get her the pet her apartment with Abed won’t let her have?

"I knew you would sooner or later." His mother rests her hand over his on the table, leans in, and whispers, "Keep this one, okay? You two make a good pair."

Annie seems to feel his stare, looks up at him with a soft smile and tilts her head while the cat bats at her hands, and Jeff grins, “We really do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another friendly request for any prompts/AU ideas you might have -- sent to me either here or on Tumblr, anonymously or not. I'm not above begging here.


	39. The Law Professor, The Forensics Major, and the Closet 1x39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For acertainbakemono on Tumblr, who wanted "They get locked in a small room after getting in a fight with each other and make up somehow."

"I'm not speaking to you right now, so you might as well just turn around and walk right out of this closet..." Annie trails off, eyes widening as the sound of the door snapping shut echoes through the supply closet, watching Jeff's face as it quickly goes from argumentative to slightly horrified, "Great. Just great. Way to go, Jeff. You just stay on _your_ side of the closet, and I'll stay on mine. And don't talk to me." she says, and slides down the wall, arms crossed over her chest and staring defiantly at the shelf of textbooks beside her.

Jeff lets the silence linger for a few minutes after shooting off a text to Abed to come rescue them, then finally nudges Annie's knee with his foot, "Look, Annie. I know that letter looked bad, but I'm not leaving Greendale. The extra money would be great, but there is not another school in this country desperate enough to hire me even if I did want to leave." he admits, leaning down until he can see her face, "As much as I hate to say it, I've gotten kind of attached to the place. _And_ a few of the people."

"You swear you're not leaving?" Annie asks, eyeing him doubtfully until he nods, "Good. Because that would have been really awful of you to abandon us like that, Jeff." She pushes herself to her feet, brushing off her tights, "You can get Abed to let us out now. He's been creeping outside for a while now. And you can buy me dinner to make up for this."

He grins, offering her his arm, "Deal."


	40. The Friend's Guide to Date-Crashing 1x40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A drabble I wrote back on the 4th of July, with bonus study group!

He finds her sitting cross-legged on a blanket with a picnic basket beside her, away from most of the lights and the crowd spread throughout the park, grinning up at him as he approaches and looking adorably, uncharacteristically patriotic in her blue and red floral dress and matching ribbons tying her hair back in a messy ponytail, “And here I was thinking you were going to go for the ‘fashionably late’ approach.” she teases, reaching for his hand to lead him to the empty spot beside her on the blanket.

"Give me some credit here. This is a date. I’m only fashionably late for parties." He sits beside her, smiling when she leans her head against his shoulder, "Not only that, but this is a date that you -"

”- Jeffrey! Annie! We thought we saw you hiding over here!”

Jeff cringes, feeling a brief moment of shame when his gut reaction is to duck down and hope Shirley walks right by them. But, then, “Wait. We?” and he hears the picnic basket beside them creak open.

"Oh, Annie made s’mores! Cool. Cool cool cool. You went for the full Fourth of July trope." Abed says with approval, reaching past Jeff and Annie to pass the plate to Britta.

"Hey, Abed! Those aren’t…" Annie gives up before she’s even done speaking, directing a shake of her head at Jeff.

"Shirley doesn’t have the kids this year and she didn’t want to spend the day alone, so… Here we are!" Britta explains around a mouthful of s’more.

"Britta! _Gross_! Manners!”

The park lights flicker off all at once and the first fireworks lights the sky a bright red as all conversation stops.

And Jeff just has to sigh, slipping an arm around Annie’s waist, “We really have to work on their codependency thing or these dates are going to get really difficult really quickly.” he murmurs, earning a quiet laugh in response as she lets her head rest back against his shoulder.

"I think it’s sweet. Let’s have the next date at your place though, okay?"

Annie pulls him in for a searing kiss during the grand finale, with the sky lit up in a multitude of colours as their backdrop, so he suppose the night isn’t a complete loss.


	41. Reality TV and the Showmance 1x41

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Annie considers the all-seeing eyes of the Big Brother cameras and the intelligence of starting a showmance. Mostly introspective!Annie. (Trigger warning for brief mentions of addiction).

Her eyes travel from the closed door of the HoH room to the camera hanging directly above her, watching her every move as it and every other one around the house has been since the day filming started five weeks ago. The cameras are supposed to be an ever-present but ignorable element of the game, Annie knows. But she also knows that Britta uses them as a soapbox for her social or political issue of the day, ranting into the camera in the girls’ bedroom late at night about the cost of oil or the deforestation of the Amazon or campaign spending. It’s pretty common knowledge that she’ll be next to go now that Pierce was evicted last week. Shirley tends to talk absentmindedly to the camera over the kitchen as she’s cooking. Abed and Troy have started their own morning show for the camera feed over the chess set outside of the HoH room; “Troy and Abed in the Morning,” they call it.

Last week, they’d all held a fashion show hosted by Jeff that she hoped America had enjoyed as much as they had.

If she’s lonely, sometimes Annie will sit in one of the alcoves in the hallway and talk to the camera; about high school, about her past problems with addiction, about her fears for the future.

The cameras see everything, whether they as the “house guests” want them to or not; there are websites out there specifically dedicated to getting any nude shots of the contestants that they can when they, or the network, slip up. The cameras — and all of reality television-watching America, probably — know about that time that Britta and Troy hooked up two weeks back in the Have-Not room, or when Ben Chang streaked through the house as one last middle-finger to them all for being about to evict him from the game.

And they’re about to see Annie go back on her promise to herself from the first day of the game, when she’d sworn she was completely above getting involved in a showmance.

————

It was a slow burn romance.

Standing in the studio that first day, waiting to enter the Big Brother house, her eyes met Jeff’s, he winked back at her, and the shiver felt like it shook her entire body. She wondered in horror if her face had looked as red in the cameras as it had felt standing there.

He’d approached her that first day, once they’d gotten their stuff settled away (and Todd had won the first Head of Household competition) and asked if they could be in an alliance. The final two. Just them. After all, he was a lawyer, she was a forensic investigator; they just _fit_.

They would bring in others to supplement their team and make sure they survived to the final two, but she always knew it was just her and Jeff to the end.

When she had won HoH two weeks later, he was the one she shared all of her food from home with. They sat up until three in the morning talking over a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

And, today, when Jeff had won HoH, she very well might have outed the two of them to the entire house when she kissed him right there in the middle of the mud-covered backyard.

————

So, yes, the cameras in the Big Brother household do see everything but, no, Annie is not above getting involved in a showmance.

And by this time tomorrow, the entire country will know that.

But when Jeff pulls her into the HoH room and she has her arms around his shoulders, back pressed against the wall while she licks into his mouth and he cradles the back of her head and the door has barely had time to shut behind her, murmuring “I’ve wanted to do this for weeks” against her cheek, she can’t find it within herself to care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An apology in advance -- I've caught up with my drabble posts on Tumblr, which means anything posted here will be as I write it. So updates might slow down from once a day to once every few days. But, as always, thanks for reading, and keep the prompts coming!


	42. Piracy in the Pre-Computer Age 1x42

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr wanted: "Jeff is a pirate captain and Annie is the Pirate King."

He wakes up with a blade to his throat and his crew screaming out on the deck over the sound of clashing swords.

The figure leaning over him is in shadow, blocking out the light from the moon filtering in to the cabin through the open door, but Jeff lets his head thump back against the pillow with a groan, " _Again_ , Troy? We've been over this: you _can't_ be First Mate. You still cry at the sight of blood and -" he stops, choking on his words as the flat of the blade presses into his neck.

He's answered with a giggle as the figure shifts into the light to reveal a young woman, conservatively dressed aside from the gold chain around her neck, "Not Troy. Annie Edison. They're calling me the _King_. And I don't want First Mate." she answers, wide blue eyes shining and wild, "I will take your ship, though. Might even keep you. You and your crew are pretty enough, I guess." and her lips twitch as she eyes him, her fingers drumming against the hilt of the sword still held to his throat.


	43. Where (Holding Hands at Disneyland) Dreams Come True 1x43

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Lisa, who wanted Jeff and Annie on their honeymoon. I hope it's what you were looking for!

Years ago, when Jeff was young and less cynical and had still dared to imagine himself on his honeymoon, his fantasies had always involved elaborate hotel suites and private white sand beaches with picturesque clear water - and lots of uninterrupted sex.

The reality -- Disneyland on an overly-warm, humid July day, surrounded by screaming children and frustrated, exhausted parents -- was quite a bit different.

But, standing there on the bridge in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, with Annie grasping his hand tight, the metal of her wedding band cool against his skin while she grins at him in the early morning sunlight, there is nowhere else in the world he'd rather be.


	44. First Day of School Blues 1x44

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr asked for Jeff and Annie as teachers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's for all of my fellow teachers, and the students, currently muddling through the start of school.

She lets her head thump against the desk as the last bell of the day finally rings, and she kind of wants to cry; the classes are half a dozen students bigger than she was told they would be, the kids clearly have no interest in being here, she can't hear herself think over the construction going on right outside her classroom, and the first day icebreaker she'd planned had been a complete and utter flop.

"You can't fall asleep yet. You still have to survive the staff meeting." Annie lifts her head, blinking tiredly at the History teacher (whose very name prompted dreamy, dazed staring from the female students), who grins at her and places styrofoam cup of coffee on her desk, "It gets easier, you know. It takes a while to find your rhythm, but you'll get there." Jeff says.

She groans dramatically, reaching for the coffee, "These are awful for the environment, you know." she mumbles, lifting the cup to her lips to hide the beginnings of a smile, "But I guess I'll take your word for it. Thank you."

"You're the science teacher. I'll leave saving the environment to you." he says, and pats her on the head, "Now come on. Staff meeting. You get to listen to everyone else bitch about their awful day for a while."


	45. An Epiphany of Emotions 1x45

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr asked for "Not AU. Describe Jeff's thoughts when he found out he has passionate feelings for Annie in 3 sentences."

When he thinks back on it, Jeff’s not sure if he can pinpoint the exact moment that things began to change between them; all he knows is that, somewhere along the way, he stopped viewing her as his (very) attractive friend and started seeing her as something _more_ , and that terrified him — which was probably why it was so much easier to keep Annie at a safe distance from the beginning and pretend that true love didn’t exist as he focused on pursuing other, less dangerous romantic choices.

And yet, as he stands there in Greendale’s hidden underground lab, hooked up to an ancient hulking computer named Raquel that runs on emotion and finds himself staring at Annie’s back, he realizes that he’s not the same person he was when he walked through the school’s doors freshman year; he’s grown in those five years, beyond being the type of person who has to hide his doubt behind layer upon layer of self-confidence and into one who is finally ready to admit that, no matter how terrifying the feeling might be, he has been in love with Annie Edison for a long time.

The computer powers to life behind him, the doors open, and Jeff files the life-changing revelation away in his mind to deal with later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting low on prompts again and would very much like to get as many written as I can before I head back to work in the middle of September, so please keep them coming here, or on Tumblr!


	46. Crossover Origin Stories 1x46

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr wanted "Jeff x Annie based on "If I Die Tomorrow" by Mötley Crüe"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is, potentially, the backstory to a longer piece I’m in the middle of writing at the moment.  
> Trigger warnings for violence, guns, cliffhangers.

_[If I die tomorrow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T6BPJRi99I) _   
_As the minutes fade away_   
_I can’t remember_   
_Have I said all I can say?_

He hurdles the upturned study table, feet barely missing Annie’s head, and he can hear growling — so terrifyingly nonhuman — from outside the room as someone tugs violently at the locked door, “So this is how I die. Death by zombie in this hellhole of a school.” he grumbles, letting his head thump back against the table. Annie doesn’t answer, and he tilts his head to see her rifling through her purse intently, “Look, Annie, I guess since we’re about to die and all, I should suck it up and say… Ugh. I just wanted to take the chance to say that I’m glad -“

”- They’re not zombies. It’s something else. I don’t know what, but they’re not zombies.” Annie interrupts, and there’s a metallic click from her purse. She turns to him then, a handgun hanging from her finger by the trigger guard, “And we’re sure not dying here. Take this, stay close, don’t let them touch you, and we’ll make for the parking lot.”

He feels her lips brush against his cheek, “You can tell me once we make it out of here.” she whispers as she clicks the safety off her own gun, and then they’re on their feet and running.

_You’re my everything_   
_You make me feel so alive_   
_If I die tomorrow_


	47. Finding Love in a Strip Club 1x47

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr wanted a "Magic Mike AU." Strip club dancer!Jeff and club-goer!Annie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no justification for this one. To be fair, the one time I did see Magic Mike, the plot was kind of an afterthought.

When Britta and Shirley had promised her a fun twenty-first birthday party, Annie had been perfectly happy with the belief that they would be spending a girls' night out at whatever hipster-esque dive bar Britta was currently least annoyed with.

Nowhere in her imaginings of the night had she ever pictured herself where she currently was; sitting on an (undoubtedly gross) wooden chair on a stage with her face buried in her hands, a cheap plastic tiara hanging crooked off her head, while lights flashed around her and women screamed to be heard over the music pounding from the speakers (she swears she can hear Shirley shrieking and laughing from somewhere to her right) -- and a very attractive man in a pair of glittery silver boxer briefs and angel wings strapped to his back grinding against her.

She peeks out from between her fingers, and "The Angel" -- Winger, the club's most popular performer, as Britta had told her proudly just minutes before -- is smiling with surprising gentleness back at her as the music comes to a close and he leans in to whisper into her ear, "Ask your friends to bring you back soon, hm? Happy birthday."


	48. So You Want to Learn to Dance 1x48

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr wanted "Jeff x Annie - Dirty Dancing AU." This... Isn't quite that since I never actually saw the movie. But it's a dance instructor!Jeff and non-dancer!Annie AU.

She twists the strap of her duffel bag, packed to bursting with materials for Model UN, and peeks cautiously around the partially open door (the plaque, which she’d memorized a month ago, reads “Jeff Winger: Contemporary Dance Instructor”) for what has to be the dozenth time in nearly as many minutes as the bass of the music feels like it’s vibrating down to her very bones -

\- and finds herself face to face with the very attractive man she’d found herself so mesmerized by these last few weeks, gleaming with sweat and smiling curiously at her from his spot leaned up against the door frame, Annie’s eyes widening in surprise as he quirks an eyebrow at her, “You looking to learn to dance, or just admiring the view?” he asks.

"I was just… I… My Model UN meeting was canceled, so I don’t have a ride and - I’m sorry, I’ll go." she babbles, twisting the strap across her shoulder until her knuckles go white, and turns away, face flushing.

She’s stopped by Jeff’s hand on her shoulder, “You could go, I guess. Or I could offer you a free dance lesson while you wait…?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, your kudos and kind comments mean the world to me. I will be starting a long-term subbing job within the next few weeks that will last through Christmas, so updates will be much slower and I apologize for that now.


	49. "Give Geeks a Chance" and Other High School Tropes 1x49

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma here on AO3 asked for "HighSchoolAU: Popular!Jeff noticing Awkward&TeachersPet!Annie and asking her on a date” I hope this is what you were hoping for!

He leans up against the locker next to her, adjusts his letterman jacket, and coughs discretely — and then, when that fails, not-so-discretely — until she pulls her gaze from her biology textbook and gawks up (and up and up) at him through thick-rimmed glasses and, for the first time in his life, Jeff finds himself floundering for words, “Heeeey - um - hi, Annie. Are you - are you busy right now? Practice was canceled and I just thought that if you have the time… Maybe you’d like to go on a date? With me? Like to a movie? Or whatever you want!” he rambles, shrugging helplessly

"Like a real date?" She purses her lips, staring consideringly down at her books, "I guess? But it can’t be a scary movie. And it’ll have to be after study group. And then I’ve got to take care of the plants in the science room. And hang posters for Model UN. So it’ll have to be after that. And…"

Nodding, he trails along behind her down the hall, hands shoved into his pockets and grinning dopily after her.


	50. Deserted Islands and Destroyed Fantasies 1x50

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr asked for "Annie x Jeff and the good ole stranded on an island AU."

"Okay. Okay, we can handle this. Um. …I really wish I had my survival book on me right now. Why didn’t I pack that? I thought about it but it was just so heavy and I didn’t have that much room in my carry-on bag and - - I don’t know what we do first! Do we make a fire? Make a sign in the sand in case anyone flies over? Food? Shelter? How do you even build a shelter? Oh god I think I’m going to faint." Annie rambles, sinking into the sand beside him and burying her head in her dirt-covered hands.

Jeff stares at her dazedly, eyeing this girl in her shredded floral skirt and torn cardigan (and knowing he has absolutely no right to judge, too in denial about the seriousness of the situation to strip out of his full suit and tie), and says, “Don’t drink the ocean water.”

She lifts her head to blink at him slowly, “What?”

"I saw it on Discovery once. It said not to drink the ocean water because it’s full of salt. It causes dehydration or something." he says helpfully, tugging at his ripped tie and throwing it at the waves lapping up towards their feet.

"Oh. Oh that’s great news. Thank you." She buries her face back in her hands, and he can hear her muffled grumbling, "At least he looks good. TV makes it seem so much hotter."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drabble #50! As always, thank you for sticking with me! Your continued support means everything!


	51. Elevator Maintenance and Anniversary Planning 1x51

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous over on Tumblr asked for "Jeff and Annie stuck in elevator after a fight?"

He looks at Annie where she’s leaning against the opposite wall, watching in the low level emergency lights of the elevator as she stares resolutely forward at the sealed metal doors, and finally, Jeff, unable take the silence anymore, sighs frustratedly, “Look, I know you’re pissed at me, and maybe getting trapped in a damn elevator is some sort of cosmic justice, but I have a good explanation, I swear.” he starts, lifting his hands defensively when she turns to stare at him with a look that very clearly says that there isn’t possibly a good explanation for bringing her to the mall and then getting them both trapped in the elevator for their one-year anniversary date, “I swear I didn’t forget about our anniversary. I had - I had this whole plan; I was going to ask you for help picking out something for my apartment, and then I was going to ask you to move in with me. It would have been sappy and romantic, I promise.”

It’s quiet for a moment, then he hears Annie’s skirt rustling as she turns on the floor to face him from across the elevator, “…You - you were going to ask me to move in? Like, officially?” she asks, brows furrowed as she eyes him.

"Yeah, like, officially. I had a custom key made for you and everyth -" He’s interrupted by a squeal from across the elevator, and then he’s got an armful of Annie, their teeth clacking together in a way that is just this side of painful as she presses her lips to his.

"Yes I’ll move in with you! I mean, you are so, _so_ bringing me to a fancy restaurant for dinner to make up for _this_ -” She waves her hand to encompass the entire elevator, “- but I would love to move in with you1 I’ll have to start packing tonight! I mean, a lot of my stuff is already over at your place anyway, but…”

And Jeff is more than happy to lean back against the wall and listen to her plan while they wait for rescue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Well, kind of. Updates will still be slow for a while as I get into the rhythm of things with teaching, but I'm surviving and keeping my head above water well enough that I've found some time to write.


	52. The Study of Study Group Dynamics 1x52

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr wanted "Annie does leave with Vaughn, but she and Jeff somehow still find each other (or Jeff can go after her, your choice)." I went with Annie and Jeff finding each other again in the future, because I'm a sucker for that trope.

The night at the end of their freshman year that Annie decides to follow Vaughn to Delaware, she isn’t out in the courtyard waiting for Jeff when he runs away from his problems (as he always seems to do — it’s a problem and he knows it even if he doesn’t want to admit it) and, though her absence feels inherently _wrong_ for reasons that he can’t quite wrap his mind around, he muddles through the night on his own.

It feels a lot like he and the others muddle through the next three years without her, to be honest; this gaping hole in their study group that gets temporarily bandaged over by a rotating cast of fellow students but never heals to look quite like it did that first year — and then they lose Pierce, and Jeff’s not sure how much longer they can keep patching over the cracks running through the foundation of the group.

But the night before the funeral finds Annie standing there in the doorway of his apartment as if she’s been doing this every week for the past three and a half years, a pizza box and a bottle of whiskey balanced in her arms and a smile tugging at the corners of her lips (shy and more than a little sad, but edging towards smug when she notices him staring back at her in shock), and everything just seems to fall back into place around him when she sets her belongings on the coffee table, throws her arms around his neck, and announces, “I’m home.”


	53. How to Become a Disney Princess and Win Over Princes 1x53

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr asked for a Cinderella AU, and Wongdude on Tumblr wanted "Actual Disney Princess Annie," so I've combined the two!

She smooths her hands down the front of her borrowed gown anxiously, trying to persuade herself to pull away from the wall and take those last few steps into the ballroom with mumbled “You can do this”s and “Britta’s right; this’ll be fine”s and "You just want to see the prince and then you can leave"s when she knows deep down in her gut that everyone will recognize her for a fraud the moment she passes through those heavy, ornate doors.

But Annie takes her first steps into the hall, and the music doesn't stop, she earns nothing more than a cursory glance from the dancers around her, no one is screaming for the guards, and then she yelps as a hand lands on her shoulder, spinning and stumbling in her heels to look up (and up and up) into the eyes of "Prince Jeffrey! I was -"

The prince is grinning as he bows, "- About to agree to a dance with me, I hope. Would you, Milady?" he asks, and a thrill goes through her at the title as she takes his offered hand and follows him into the ballroom.


	54. Free Kittens and Other Gut-Wrenching Sights 1x54

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Ameliasfairytales on Tumblr and from [this](http://caswitch.tumblr.com/post/98336463652/aus-that-need-to-happen-autumn-edition-i-got) post: ‘This stranger on the street corner looks like they’re severely unprepared for this cold weather, here, take my scarf, i was planning on donating it to goodwill anyways’

Annie’s hunched down into her pea coat at the bus stop, chilled-pink nose buried into the collar, holding her shoulders uncomfortably up near her ears to block the wind, and looking all together miserable, and Jeff finds the sight entirely reminiscent of one of those ‘ _kittens - free to a good home_ ' advertisements in the newspaper: adorable and more than just a little heart-wrenching.

Jeff always hated those ads.

He unwinds the scarf from around his neck as he steps up beside her, and carefully drops the thing over her shoulders, fighting back a grin when she blinks up at him in surprise. Then, she smiles, twisting a fraying edge between her fingers before wrapping it more thoroughly around her neck, “Thank you!” And the thing is still much too long on her, the ends draped down past her waist and the bright green of the scarf clashing horrendously with her magenta coat.

"I was about to donate the thing anyway." Jeff answers, making one final grasp at not looking like a total sap, but she just grins back and buries her nose into the scarf with a happy sigh while he ponders early he’ll have to leave tomorrow morning to pick up coffee for them both on his way here.


	55. Blanket Sharing: A Guide to Impressing the New Neighbor 1x55

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another one for Ameliasfairytales on Tumblr and from [this](http://geekinthejeep.tumblr.com/post/100617902279/iggycat-someone-needs-to-write-a-the-fire) suggestion post: ‘Someone needs to write a ‘the fire alarm went off at 3 am and now the cute guy from the flat next door is standing next to me in his underwear’’

Annie bites her lip and huddles down farther into the comforter she’d dazedly thought to drag outside with her, fighting to keep her gaze from wandering to her neighbor shivering in place a few feet away from her while the fire alarm echoes through the street. But, well, she’d like to think her struggle is understandable: it is not, after all, every day that you get to see the very tall, _very attractive_ new neighbor standing around outside in just his underwear while you both wait for the fire department to show up because _someone_ probably thought it would be a good idea to leave a candle burning overnight again.

She takes a steadying breath and steps forward, the concrete cold beneath her bare feet, until she’s standing beside him, tentatively holding a side of the comforter open in invitation, “Hi. Uh. Jeff, right? Do you, I don’t know, want to share this…” And she trails off with a surprised squeak as he leans right against her, shivering at the press of his bare arm against her side.

She feels his cheek rest against the top of her head, grinning as he mumbles sleepy “God I love you”s into her hair.


	56. Heaven, Hell, and You 1x56

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr asked for "a halloween AU in which jeff and annie meet for the first time because they have matching costumes."

He reaches over the the angel’s feathery white wings to tap her on the shoulder, a wicked grin (that he had certainly not spent half an hour perfecting in front of the mirror) already in place, a pickup line on the tip of his tongue, when she turns to face him - and, before he can say anything, she’s eyeing his black suit and tie with an overabundance of judgement for a girl wearing feathers covered in glitter, “…Are you supposed to be a secret agent?” she asks finally, quirking a brow.

Jeff blinks back at her, baffled to find himself suddenly floundering for words, “ _No_!” he exclaims, and now she’s definitely gawking at him, so he points toward the small red horns sticking out from his hair, “No. No, I’m - I’m a demon. And you’re an angel, so…” he trails off, hand waving helplessly.

Walking away before this gets any worse seems like a good plan, he decides as Annie stares at him in silence, the sound of the over-loud music and people shouting to be heard over it surrounding them, then her lips twitch upward and she snorts out a laugh, “’ _So_ '…? So maybe one of us could ask the other to dance now? We kind of already look like a couple anyway.” she says, and takes his hand when he offers it to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween! I hope everyone had a fun, safe night!


	57. How to Use Your Powers for Good (or Evil) 1x57

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wongdude on Tumblr asked for a "Super Hero AU" for Jeff and Annie. This isn't quite that, so much as it is a Heroes AU with Jeff's power of [Persuasian](http://heroes.wikia.com/wiki/Persuasion) and Annie the [Empath](http://heroes.wikia.com/wiki/Empathy). Because both of them would straddle that line between hero and villain really damn well.

He squeezes the man's shoulder, leaning down to look him in the eyes as he speaks with slow, clear words, drawing on the powers always lingering in the back of his mind, "Tell the judge that my client didn't do it. You want to drop the case, and you're sorry for wasting everyone's time." Jeff _Says_ , earning a slow, dazed nod before the guy wanders off in the direction of the courtroom.

Annie bumps the guy's shoulder as he passes, murmuring an apology even as she rolls her eyes exasperatedly at Jeff, "Oh my god, you ass! I thought you said we were actually going to win this one the normal way! You are such a lying cheat!" she accuses, reaching up to slap Jeff on the arm once she's close enough, "It doesn't count as a perfect record if we have to use your powers to win!"

"Announce our abilities to the whole world, why don't you? Not like the government is hunting for people like us or anything." he grumbles, rubbing at his stinging arm, "And you can't tell me you didn't just _Read_ him as he walked by. I mean, our client's a douche, but that plaintiff is a piece of shit; he doesn't deserve the money anyway." Annie's sullen silence is answer enough (because of course she read him, and Jeff grins as he offers her his arm with a shallow bow, "Since we're just about done here... How about a late lunch to celebrate our win?"


	58. The Romantic Rain Trope and Ruined Carpets 1x58

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr wanted a fic for "[It Was Always You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubhkguhrYGg) \- Maroon 5 for Jeff x Annie." I've combined that here with Ameliasfairytales old request for an alternative ending to "Asian Population Studies" where Jeff confesses his feelings to Annie (instead of Rich).

Jeff is rambling the moment the door opens, rainwater rolling from his hair and down onto the hallway carpet while wide eyes stare back at him from the doorway, “Don’t say anything until I’ve said what I’ve got to say. I’ve known you for almost two years now and I’ve never taken you as seriously as I should have. You are -“

”- Jeff? _What the hell_?” Annie interrupts incredulously, standing there in her pajamas and looking surprisingly unaffected by the fact that she’d been turned down by (amazing, intelligent, perfect, _disgusting_ ) Rich an hour ago, “What… What are you doing?”

He just keeps babbling, on too much of a roll to let himself be surprised by her response, “This is me telling you what it’s going to be. I - I’m giving you an answer and uncomplicating things. I _was_ jealous of Rich, because I think I should be with you. I’m not a good person, but you make me want to -“

”- Stop. Stop! Oh my god, get in the door before my landlord tries to shoot you!” she cuts him off again, her hands scrabbling at the soaked fabric of his shirtsleeves and dragging him into the apartment, “Go - go shower before you ruin my carpet. You can try being a gigantic sap again after.”

He has enough time to glimpse her soft smile before she pushes him into the bathroom and pulls the door shut behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the bad news? I've got a full time teaching gig starting in January, so chapter posting speed won't be picking up soon like I'd hoped. The good(ish) news? I've started a snail mail holiday card project over on Tumblr, so if you'd like the free opportunity to get a handwritten prompt filled by me, you can find the information [[right here](http://geekinthejeep.tumblr.com/post/102982926869/geekinthejeep-im-going-to-be-sending-holiday)]!


	59. Christmas Romance in the 21st Century 1x59

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wongdude and an Anon on Tumblr asked for "Jeff x Annie (Already in a relationship - Straight No Chaser - featuring Kristen Bell - [Text Me Merry Christmas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmhfdQlOiy0)"

Their friends had made a valiant effort at keeping her distracted this evening, but the moment the door closes behind Abed, Annie’s tugging her phone out of her pocket and twisting it in absentmindedly in her hands as she wills it to light up with a new notification.

When the text does finally appear, she finds herself with a crooked picture of Jeff that he’d clearly taken himself, holding a sprig of mistletoe above his head and grinning smugly into the camera.

‘ _Merry Xmas. Miss me yet?_ ’

There’s no one around to see her press the phone to her chest with a sigh and a fond roll of her eyes before she moves to the doorway, pursing her lips exaggeratedly as she angles her phone to make sure the mistletoe Jeff had hung there before he’d left makes it into the frame.

‘ _Merry Christmas to you too. xoxo_ ’


	60. Spending Limits are for Other People 1x60

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On Tumblr, sluthousee and wongdude asked for “Jeff gets Annie as secret Santa or vice versa" and thecloseryoulook-thelessyousee suggested “Jeff panicking over what to get Annie for Christmas.”

Jeff worries over what to get her all week. The little gifts, left at Annie’s usual spots each day as part of the study group’s Secret Santa game, are easy enough. Her favorite candy bar on her desk on Monday. A mocha from the shop down the street from campus in her locker for Tuesday. A pack of purple pens (with a gel grip) on her seat in the study room Wednesday. On Thursday, there’s the headband that he’d found completely unintentionally and definitely didn’t buy because the pattern matched one of her favorite floral skirts perfectly that he leaves for her with her Forensics professor. Friday morning, he bribes Garrett into delivering a cheap box of Appletini mix to her.

The big reveal gift? That’s more difficult. He could — and nearly does — drive himself insane trying to think of something below the twenty dollar limit that could possibly be good enough for Annie. Really, it’s only out of desperation (and maybe some luck) that he stumbles into the perfect shop at all, and then proceeds to totally ignore the spending limit the study group had set up.

It had been a stupid rule, anyway.

The blue of her eyes matches the color of the [topaz pendant](http://www.peora.com/14-kt-white-gold-heart-shape-1-00-ct-london-blue-topaz-pendant-p9000/?gdftrk=gdfV23764_a_7c3388_a_7c13023_a_7c40776&gclid=CIXW_7D74sICFUwV7AodaEoA5Q) perfectly that Friday afternoon when she pulls him away from the rest of the study group and slaps him on the arm with a “Jeff, oh my god! It’s too much; I can’t believe you!” But, really, it’s _so_ worth it for the way she drags him in by the front of his sweater for a kiss under the mistletoe, mumbling “You are such a gigantic sap.” against his lips.


	61. Perfecting the Art of Tree-Watching 1x61

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thecloseryoulook-thelessyousee on Tumblr prompted Jeff x Annie “lying under the tree together."

Jeff doesn’t even question it when he finally locates her, just mutters a curse under his breath as his forehead scrapes against a low-hanging branch, feeling the pine needles clinging in his hair where Jeff’s sure he’ll probably still be finding them weeks from now, and finally squirms under the tree beside Annie, “That wasn’t a totally awful Christmas, right? I mean, we probably could have done without Abed making us watch every Inspector Spacetime Christmas special, or Britta ranting about -“

Annie interrupts him, leaning forward to press her lips to his, an easy, languid kiss, “It was a _great_ Christmas.” she says, a little sleepy-sounding, her eyes shining spectacularly in the multicolored lights from the tree when she pulls back, “Our first Christmas together.”

He huffs out a laugh, “We’ve had plenty of Christmases together. How about the year Abed thought we were all claymation? Or when we joined glee club?” he asks, rolling his eyes fondly when she smacks him on the arm, “Okay. Okay! It was a good first Christmas together. You know, for two people who don’t celebrate Christmas.”

"Shut up and admire our tree, Jeff." she answers, tilting her head to rest on his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays, all!


	62. Soul Mates and Life Reevaluations 2x1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thecloseryoulook-thelessyousee on Tumblr asked for a Jeff x Annie soulmate AU!

He shows off his bare wrist to the world with a defiant sort of pride for the first seventeen years of his life: the boy who doesn't have or need someone else's name has seen firsthand that soul mates don't mean happily ever afters, and only mean being tied down and held back -- and Jeff is meant for better things than being bound to a single person for the rest of his life.

If his soul mate doesn't exist after over a decade and a half, then, as far as he's concerned, they're never going to exist at all; and he's happy to live his life believing he's content with that.  
  
And then he wakes up one December morning during his senior year with _Annie Edison_ tattooed across his wrist in neat, looping cursive and an echo of a dream of bright wide blue eyes that will haunt him until he sees them again nearly nineteen years later in a community college study room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see! Things have been super crazy between starting the new teaching gig and con adventures, but I'm hoping to start getting back into the swing of things now. Feel free to send any prompts my way here or on Tumblr!


	63. Soul Mates and Life Reevaluations (Redux) 2x2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marissa here on AO3 asked for an Annie continuation of my previous soul mate drabble, and I'm always up for writing more of one of my favorite tropes!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for (vague) mentions of addiction and injury.

She carries the name she's had on her wrist since birth with dignity, the scrawling, messy ' _Jeffrey Winger_ ' that she can cling to as a sign of her own self-worth when the rest of the world seems to have left her to struggle through the worst years of her life on her own.

The name is with Annie when her parents divorce, when she throws back the first (and second and third and hundredth) Adderall, jumps through that glass door and injures herself horribly, drops out of high school, and goes through rehab and numerous reconstructive surgeries - and the name is the only thing she has left once her mother disowns her.

It seems fitting, then, that she finds him once she's finally started to get her life back on the right track, eyes meeting across the study room on her first day at Greendale Community College.


	64. Soul Mates and Life Reevaluations (The Third) 2x3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was asked to write a third part for this, and since it's Valentine's Day... Part of the Jeff/Annie soul mate AU, unforgivably cheesy, and set some time a few years down the road.

She pulls his hand into her lap and traces her finger over the elegant looping scrawl of her name on his wrist, the comforting silence of the living room pulling the words from his mouth, "I spent half my life thinking I didn't have a soul mate. I was so - so _horrified_ when your name appeared." he says, trying for casually unimpressed and knowing he's tumbled right past it into awed.

Annie snorts quietly, blue eyes so much more vivid than anything Jeff's dreams had ever been capable of creating flickering up to meet his, "So romantic. And I wasn't expecting a soul mate nearly twice my age, but we can't all get what we want." she mutters, her head tilting to rest against his shoulder.

"It's a good thing I like you." The words come easily, the same conversation they've been having for years tugging the corners of his lips up in a smile.

She hums consideringly, "It is. Or today would have been a huge waste of time." she says, the low light from the lamp glinting off two new wedding bands when Jeff lets her twine their fingers together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Jeff/Annie soul mate AU now has its own story here on AO3 for any further chapters - check it out! [[Love is a Polaroid](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3503153/chapters/7699748)]


	65. Adult's First Car Crash 2x4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thecloseryoulook-thelessyousee on Tumblr wanted "Annie and Jeff meet when Annie’s first car accident leads to her hitting his car."

There are tears soaking the front of his shirt, sobbed apologies muffled against his chest, people gawking at them from the dwindling rush hour traffic on the street, and as Jeff stares at the dent newly crushed into the bumper of his Lexus, he feels like he should be the one crying, “It’s - it’s okay.” he manages, rubbing the girl’s back awkwardly, “It’s... Not a big deal?"

She (Annie - her driver’s license said her name was Annie) pulls away from him, staring up at him with wide, watery blue eyes like something out of a damn Disney movie, “Really? Because I hit your car! I’m a good driver, I swear, but I hit your car! You asked for my _insurance_!” she exclaims and, to Jeff’s horror, starts sobbing again.

“I’m sorry; I’m a lawyer! That’s what I do!” he says defensively, but those eyes get impossibly wider and, sighing, he pats her on the head and wonders if maybe he did get a concussion in the crash, “Ugh, fine, look. How about I buy you a, I don’t know, celebratory ‘Annie’s First Car Accident’ dinner? I’ll buy you dinner and we won’t file a report about the crash and you can stop crying?” he rambles and, miraculously, she _does_ stop crying -

\- but maybe the blinding smile that spreads across her face is even worse news for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long delay! Between working full-time and trying to finish a longer fic, I've been distracted - but please feel free to send more prompts my way!


	66. How to Get a Date and Win Back Your Seat at the Movies 2x5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ameliasfairytales on Tumblr asked for a "I accidentally sat in your seat at the movie theater" AU. In related news, my OTP are both assholes and I love them.

“Um, excuse me? You’re sitting in my seat.” Annie says over the roar of the opening credits, shooting for politeness and landing somewhere near vaguely pissed off because, _excuse him_ , his (admittedly probably very fine) ass is in _her_ seat that she waited in line an hour to get on opening night, squishing _her_ jacket down into the cushions, elbow propped up on _her_ arm rests -

\- and did he just ignore her?! No sir.

“Fine then.” Huffing, she steps over the feet of the traitor who failed to follow through on his promise to guard her seat because he’s worried about his obnoxious whiny toddler, plops herself down in Handsome Seat Stealer’s lap, and shovels a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

“Whoa, hey! Go get your own seat!” Jeff grumbles, ignoring the shushing of the people around him as he tries to dislodge her, “If you’re going to try to give me a lap dance in the middle of a theater, at least ask me on a date first.”

“It’s _my_ seat. I was here first.” she responds and turns far enough to pat him on the cheek, all syrupy sweet smiles as she adds, “And maybe after the movie. _If_ you give me back my seat.”


	67. A Guide to Latte Foam Art 2x6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wongdude on Tumblr asked for "Barista! Annie Edison and Customer! Jeff Winger. She leaves messages on his cup and stuff." This is... Almost that.

She hums cheerily along with the radio as she finishes the foam heart in the latte with a flourish, quickly snapping the lid over it before Abed has a chance to see it from where he’s watching her like a hawk at the register.

Increasingly elaborate foam latte art aside, it’s all entirely routine after that; she’ll call Jeff’s name to get his attention from the table facing the front window, they’ll exchange polite smiles as he takes his coffee, and then he’ll grab his stuff from the table and walk out the door and Annie will spend the rest of the day pretending that tiny piece of interaction isn’t the only thing getting her through her long Monday morning shift.

Or, it should all be entirely routine. Except for the part where Jeff grins at her - actually _grins_! - with a “Thanks, Annie.” and removes the lid from his coffee cup while he reaches for the cinnamon shaker and Annie starts considering her chances of being able to vault the counter and be out the door before he notices.

He doesn’t say anything - even though the evidence is right there in front of his eyes in a slowly-distorting mass of foam on top of his drink - just pours a generous helping of cinnamon into his coffee and heads back to the pile of papers waiting for him at his table.

Annie whines, grip white-knuckled against the edge of the counter as she kneels beneath it to hit her head off the shelf of paper cups, “Put me out of my misery now, please.” she says to Abed.

Her coworker just tilts his head down at her, “You should go clean tables.”

She whines again, staring back up at him with wide watery eyes, “But I -”

“- You should go clean tables.” he repeats.

“You suck at pity, you know that?” she grumbles, yanking the washcloth from his hands and storming out from behind the counter. At least Jeff is already gone, off to teach his classes at the local college and haunt her thoughts for the rest of the day.

And yet, as she approaches his vacated table, she can see the napkin he’d left behind (blessedly uncharacteristic for him) and her heart starts to beat just a little bit faster. Shaky hands reach down to pick it up, and she brushes her thumb over the ten digits written in sloppy pen -

\- and the poorly-shaded heart drawn beneath them.

Annie let’s out a victorious shriek as she spins toward the counter, waving the napkin over her head at Abed, “He gave me his number! I got it!” she yells, and ignores the concerned stares of the customers in line as she clutches the paper to her chest.


	68. A Student's Guide to Shipping and OTPs 2x7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For thecloseryoulook-thelessyousee on Tumblr, who asked for "Jeff/Annie 'our students think we *should* be dating and are completely unsubtle about playing matchmaker' AU."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can be seen as, but doesn’t have to be, a sequel of chapter 44: "First Day of School Blues."

Casey revels in the quiet of the classroom, the scratch of pencils against paper a soothing background noise as she hurries to finish her science homework before the bell rings. If she just gets this done now, then -

\- There’s a knock on the door, setting the classroom abuzz and interrupting her from her thoughts.

It’s Mr. Winger again, leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest and smirking at Miss Edison like he’s the well-dressed love interest from one of those steamy romance books Casey’s mother would kill her if she ever admitted to having gotten her hands on. Miss Edison, as per usual, immediately drops whatever it is she’s working on to go join him by the door, all wide-eyed and red-faced and flustered by the other teacher’s very presence.

It’s become something of a routine two months into the school year. If Mr. Winger isn’t at the door during science class, then Miss Edison is at the door during their history class. They’re always sitting next to each other in the faculty lounge during lunch. Mr. Winger is always patting Miss Edison on the head, and she’s always quietly chiding him about behaving professionally. It’s all kind of sickeningly adorable, really.

“I heard from someone in first period that he brings her coffee every morning.” Claire whispers from beside her.

Megan snorts, leaning forward in her chair, “Yeah, well _I_ heard Isaiah saw them together at the diner the other night.”

Becca makes a face, “I thought Winger and Slater were still together?”

“No way. They broke up at the end of last year. I heard that’s why Slater transferred to the middle school.” Casey interrupts, shaking her head.

“But I liked them!”

“No way. Team Winger-Edison now. Wingison? Team them.” Casey points at the teachers who have migrated even closer together, just in time to see Miss Edison burst into giggles over whatever Mr. Winger has just whispered into her ear.

“Gross. They’re not even together. That would be like - like trying to get your parents together.” Parker grumbles, wrinkling his nose.

“Ugh. Just shut up and do your homework, Parker.” She taps the end of her pencil against her nose, watching the two teachers thoughtfully, “We’re gonna get them together. …Anyone want to bet on how long it takes?”

* * *

Step one of Operation Winger-Edison begins bright and early the next morning. Casey waits with Becca beside Miss Edison’s door, both of them leaned casually against the lockers with their reading points books open in front of them until Mr. Winger walks past them into the room with the usual paper cup of coffee in his hands.

Casey nudges Becca in the side - _hard_ \- and then the other girl is off at a run, screaming at the top of her lungs down the hallway until every panicked teacher on the floor is flying out of their rooms to catch up with her.

Unsubtle, but effective.

Mr. Winger and Miss Edison come running out of the room and Casey takes her opportunity to sneak in before the door shuts. A Sharpie in hand, she scribbles a quick heart (decided on after much debate between the group of them after school yesterday as being the most Winger-like) on the side of the full coffee cup that had been left behind on the desk, and then she’s slipping out of the room before anyone has noticed.

Two minutes later, Becca has explained herself with “It was a huge spider, I swear!” to poor Mr. Duncan who still has his hand clutched over his heart, and Miss Edison has slipped a damn koozie over her coffee cup without even looking at the thing first.

Step one is a bust, Becca gets two nights of detention out of the deal, and Casey will be doing her homework for a week to make up for it.

* * *

Step two is particularly brilliant, though, if you were to ask Casey: two nights of Parker’s homework (there is no shame in dealing in what she knows) in exchange for a few disconnected lines beneath the hood of Miss Edison’s shitty old Honda sitting out in the faculty parking lot.

Miss Edison will be stuck catching a ride home with Mr. Winger, they’ll both fall madly in love, and Casey will be pocketing twenty-five dollars and a lifetime of bragging rights.

And probably a spot of honor in the inevitable Winger-Edison wedding.

What she doesn’t take into account is Miss Edison being stubborn as a bull about it and just walking home with a wave to Mr. Winger on her way out of the school.

* * *

 

Step three is going to work for sure, though.

It has to, because Casey hadn’t really been able to plan out any other steps and she could really use those twenty-five dollars.

A few bats of her eyelashes and some babbling about how much everyone adores Miss Edison already is enough to get the teacher to agree to chaperone the Harvest Dance. Mr. Winger takes a bit more work - a promise from the entire class that they won’t tattle on him if he doesn’t assign them homework for two weeks.

It’s a fair compromise, once Casey accepts that sacrifices must be made.

And then the night of the dance arrives and they’re _so_ boring and teacher-like, leaning against the wall behind the snack table with a respectable distance between them and not even trying to talk over the thumping bass of the DJ’s music. No matter how much she wheedles, they refuse to move away from the wall for even a single dance, waving her away with some muttered explanation about “protecting the punch bowl.”

It’s all a letdown.

Half an hour after the dance ends, the gymnasium is cleaned to scratched public school perfection once more, and she hikes her dress up, catches the straps of her heels between her fingers, and quietly pulls the metal doors shut behind her as she steps into the parking lot - 

\- and nearly drops her shoes at the sight of Mr. Winger pressed up against his Lexus, hands grasped tight around Miss Edison’s hips as she seems to be trying to shove her tongue down his throat. 

“I really do hope none of our students are planning to be actors after high school.”

“Aww. I thought it was cute! They were cute, Jeff!”

“They have the subtlety of a nuclear bomb, Annie.”

“It was cute. Now are you taking me home or what?”

Oh. _Oh_.

She’ll walk home from the other side of the school tonight, she decides. She even manages to wait until she’s all the way out to the sidewalk before she shrieks, waves her heels in the air over her head, and yanks her cell phone from her dress to send out her victory text.


	69. A How-To Guide to Coping with Flight Delays 2x8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Jeff and Annie meet cute at the airport AU for wongdude, who can't tell me about real meet cute stories and not expect me to write them for my OTP.

When she sits down next to him in the crowded terminal, her feet barely even reach the floor where they dangle over the end of the seat. And yet, somehow, through the progressing hours with their departure time pushed further and further back (tornado warnings in Denver, he hears), Jeff watches as she manages to sink lower and lower in her seat with quiet grumblings until her back is, impressively, parallel with the floor.

He sets his phone down on the arm of his chair with a shake of his head, turning to face her, “Eager to get the hell out of DC, or to get home?” he asks.

She perks up, hair frizzing against the vinyl seat backing as she tilts her head toward him and eyebrows scrunching together, “Both.” she decides eventually, “DC is nice and all, but it’s just - it’s just so _much_.”

He understands that perfectly well, “I get that. It’s like the East -”

“- And I wasn’t even getting paid to be here!” she adds, throwing her hands into the air and looking at him with wide eyes that just seem to be begging for any sort of pity.

Sighing, Jeff reaches over and pats what he can reach of the top of her head, “That’s rough.” he says, proud of the amount of sympathy he manages to inject into his tone, “So home is Denver for you?”

She snorts, wiggling her way back up into her chair and offering him her hand, “I’m Annie. And, uh, kind of. Home is Greendale, but I’m moving to Denver in a few weeks to start work at the FBI branch there.” she explains as she combs her fingers through her hair, trying to flatten it back against her head.

“No shit. We’re heading the same way. I teach law at the college in Greendale. Jeff Winger.” he says, head turning toward the desk as they finally start preparing for boarding.

“...City College?”

He looks away as he gathers his belongings and answers grudgingly, “No. Uh. Greendale Community College.” He wrinkles his nose, “Wow. That’s an attraction killer, isn’t it?”

Annie snorts, an inelegant sound that she tries to cover with her hand, “No. No, it’s -” She shakes her head, “- Okay. A little bit. Yeah. Now come on, Professor Winger. I think we have a flight to catch.”

He sketches a bow and offers his arm, which she takes with a laugh after shouldering her bag as their boarding number is called, “Lead the way, Agent...?”

“Edison. Agent Edison.” she says, offering her boarding pass at the desk.

“Lead the way, Agent Edison. So, the FBI, huh?”

She falls asleep on his shoulder somewhere around two in the morning over Illinois after they’ve exhausted talking through DC internships and teaching law and a few tragic life stories, and the old woman across the aisle from them keeps looking over and cooing at them above young love and Jeff doesn’t have it in him to correct her.

Before they part at baggage claim, Annie offers him her phone opened to a new contact page, glances around with red starting to darken her cheeks as she takes it back from him and pockets it, then stands up on her toes to press a kiss to his jawline before she disappears into the crowd with a whispered, “Talk to you soon.”


	70. Drunken Flirting and You 2x9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Ameliasfairytales, who sent " _"one time when i was a little drunk and laying in bed with a guy, i kissed his neck and mumbled “i could beat the shit out of you” in his ear.he said “i know”. imagine your otp" this is perfect for jeff x annie omg_ "

She lets her eyes slip closed, still pleasantly foggy from that last margarita as she turns into Jeff’s side with an arm over his chest to pull him in and a kiss to his neck that involves maybe a bit more use of teeth than strictly necessary. 

Jeff lets her; moans agreeably and tilts his head to give her more space to work and it’s all kind of adorably perfect how cooperative he is. It’s what she means to tell him ( _really_ she does) but what she manages is more like a “I... I could beat the shit out of you.” mumbled sleepily somewhere in the relative vicinity of his ear.

And sweet, more-sappy-than-he’s-ever-willing-to-admit Jeff - he just huffs out a laugh against her cheek and lets himself be pulled in closer by the leg tossed over his hips, “I know. Now, shh. Sleep. You’re showing me DC tomorrow.”


	71. Hurt, Comfort, and You 2x10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For thecloseryoulook-thelessyousee on Tumblr, who wanted Jeff visiting Annie in DC and giving her a hug after she's had a bad week.

She wants to cry.

Her hair is slipping out of its ponytail and is frizzing up around her ears in the humid DC summer, the back of her shoe has been digging into her heel since she boarded the Metro this morning, her boss expressed concern as to whether or not she really wanted to be here after she fumbled a major report, the strap of her bag finally gave up on her way out of work this afternoon to spill file upon file across the lobby of the FBI headquarters, and when her keys slip out of her hands in front of her apartment, it’s the last straw of a bad day in an overall awful week.

No, she’s not cut out for this. Abed’s doing fine across the country, grinning and in his element and _happy_ in their last Skype conversation. Jeff has tried to help, but he’d been so distracted last time they’d spoken; generic words of comfort while his attention was clearly somewhere else and, meanwhile, she’s just… Floundering. Floundering and miserable and dreaming of her quiet room in their apartment back in Greendale or the bar or, god help her, their study room. She wants to be home and she was an idiot to ever think she was made for this.

She slumps right there against the frame, letting out a quiet, choked off whine as she rests her forehead against the door. 

“Annie?”

A pair of shoes - nice shoes - step into her view. She knows those shoes.

“Ann? Hey, come on. It’s okay. Come here.” The quiet voice makes her whine again, and then there’s a hand on her shoulder, guiding her gently away from the door and into the open warm pair of arms waiting for her.

She collapses against Jeff with a muffled sob, sags with the reassurance of those arms wrapped tight around her back with a hand tracing indistinguishable patterns between her shoulder blades and the other combing fingers through the hair that has escaped her ponytail. She presses herself right up against him, feeling those arms go impossibly tighter around her, her head on his chest. She can hear his heart, steady and calm through the worn cotton of his tee shirt and she takes a few deep breaths to the pattern of its beats against her ear.

He smells like home, like pine and open air and that stupid expensive laundry detergent he refuses to give up. It takes everything in her not to press her nose into his shirt and just breathe in everything she’s been missing this last month away from home.

She feels the press of his lips against her hair, that hand still rubbing reassuringly across her back as he says, “If I pick up your keys for you, promise you won’t start crying again?”

This time, her response is more hiccuping laugh than sob.


	72. The Adventures of Flower Girl and Wingman 2x11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous on Tumblr asked for "we both live in a really tiny suburb in the city but there’s a lot of crime and bad rep and you decide to become a superhero and just for kicks i decide to be a supervillain to rival you and end up helping you instead."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annie can make herself invisible. Jeff can see and manipulate emotions. The local newspaper pretends either of those make for good superpowers.  
> (Any level of seriousness does not exist. Warnings for minor violence and really ridiculous names.)

Annie doesn’t have much to her name; a tiny loft apartment above the 24/7 sandwich and sex shop overlooking the most dangerous alleyway in the neighborhood, a high school diploma, a really good sewing machine, a blue belt in Zen Do Kai, a talent for blending in, and a level of optimism so goddamn obnoxious her neighbor, Jeff, complains that it falls off of her like glitter.

It’s really only that last one that she can blame for getting her into this whole mess.

* * *

She deflects the punch off of her forearm when she reappears, returning with a palm to the masked man’s face and a loud yell (a _kiai_ , and Sensei says she’s good at those) that can’t even be outmatched by the criminal’s own pained scream.

The man stumbles back, bringing his hand to his nose and gasping when it comes away bloody. He lifts his hand up to show her, “What the fuck, lady?!” He looks downright offended behind the ski mask.

She plants her feet, fists on her hips as she stares him down, “That’ll teach you. Come around here again and your nose won’t be the only thing that’s broken!”

He throws his arms in the air frustratedly, “No, seriously, what the fuck?!”

“I said -”

“- Are you wearing goddamn floral spandex -”

“- Would you both shut the hell up?” The window a story up slams open, and Jeff the neighbor is leaning out over the alleyway, shirtless and hair attractively rumpled by sleep. He also looks more than slightly pissed, “It’s four in the goddamn morning. Go play Avengers somewhere else.”

By the time the window has slammed shut and Annie spins back around to face her prey, the guy’s footsteps are echoing loudly off the concrete as he disappears around the corner.

It’s the third time this week one of them has gotten away from her.

* * *

The Denver Post dubs her The Flower Girl of East Colfax, with an ability to disappear and reappear at will and scare criminals into surrender.

She calls herself The Guardian, who also has a very nice certificate of her brand new brown belt in martial arts, thank you.

Her letters to the newspaper go unanswered.

* * *

“Could you send an officer to the same spot as last time? You’ve got another pick up to make.”

Annie ties the newest perp to the light pole outside of the alleyway as she shoves her phone back into her pocket, giving him a hard pat to the shoulder, “And now you’ll be brought to justice and pay for your crimes, criminal.” she tells him, just for good measure.

The guy rolls his eyes, and she’s more than happy to glare back at him until the police arrive -

\- when she’s distracted by a snort from the entrance to the alley. There’s a figure there, pressed uncomfortably close to the brick of the building to avoid the light coming from the street. And it’s laughing at her, “Next time I’ll have to send someone stronger.” it - he, her mind corrects; it sounds like a he - says, ominously and more than a little muffled-sounding.

“Is this a joke?”

“Not a joke, Flower Girl. You’re annoying to me.” he says, stepping forward into the light slowly, prolonging the dramatic reveal of his costume.

“Oh. You’re a bad guy.” She runs her eyes along the man’s costume, all intimidating mask and black and red spandex. He’s tall, too, with an easy foot advantage over her as he approaches. She brightens considerably as she gazes up at him, “You’re my supervillain!”

* * *

The Denver Post says he’s The Supervillain Wingman, capable of manipulating a person’s emotions with a single touch.

Annie calls him The Guardian’s Supervillain, capable of being evil.

Her letters to the newspaper go unanswered once more.

* * *

Then the number of criminals starts to increase, Wingman sending a new person at her each night with anger in their eyes prompted by just a poke, and Annie wonders if there’s any viability to the idea of demanding an official job title from “24/7 Subs (and Doms)” for all of the time she’s spending protecting the damn place from robbers.

She’s not even getting free food out of the deal, damn it.

The criminals start spreading out, too. It’s no longer as easy as turning herself invisible as soon as she slips out of her window and kicking some ass in the alley. Now she actually has to run places - to the fast food restaurant on the corner, to the gas station a block over, to the confusingly high end sushi place on the other side of the neighborhood.

Someday, after her big showdown with Wingman, maybe she’ll send _him_ a bill for all of her food costs.

One of these days, the police receptionist threatens, she’s going to call for an officer to come out and take care of the criminal of the day and they’re just going to ignore her because, seriously, they don’t have room for all of these people and go bother New York City or something.

Officer Barnes always shows up anyway, grinning and joking and wheedling free food out of the poor teenager behind the counter at the fast food place before he arrests whoever Annie’s managed to beat the shit out of that day. He even thanks her for her work.

Jeff her attractive neighbor does, too. Or, rather, he thanks The Flower Girl one day as he steals the newspaper from Annie’s hands, “More criminals means more trials, and more trials mean more opportunities for a defense lawyer.” he says with a smirk, dropping the paper back into her waiting hands.

* * *

She absolutely does not take any delight in Jeff’s sudden improvement in mood.

She might take the credit for it, though. It’s not like he or Wingman has to know.

It all comes to a head the night she gets shot.

* * *

In Annie’s defense, it’s more a bad combination of circumstances that lead to her getting shot: she’d been up all night studying for her forensics exam in the morning, Wingman had chosen to send someone into “24/7 Subs (and Doms)” a full hour after his normal time, and that someone just so happened to have super hearing - which was a really lame superpower, and telling the guy as much might have been why he closed his eyes, cocked his head, and spun right around and shot her.

She lifts her hand away from her arm and the alleyway starts spinning around her at the sight of blood oozing sluggishly from the graze in her costume, “You shot me!” she says, tone something between stunned and offended. She holds her hand out to the shadows where Wingman is undoubtedly lingering, “He shot me!”

Wingman, to her surprise, actually looks a little put out by it all as he steps into the light, “I didn’t know he had super hearing.” he says defensively.

“He shot me!”

“I see moods, not idiotic superpowers!”

“Not my problem! He still shot me!” She waves her bloodied hand at him emphatically.

Then there’s a gun and the disgruntled criminal holding it standing between them, glancing back and forth between the two with furrowed brows and a look of annoyance, “I’ll shoot one of you again! Who wants to keep talking?”

“That’s pretty lame, buddy.” Wingman grumbles, poking the guy with a finger to the arm that sends him and the gun crashing to the ground.

Annie purses her lips, staring down at their passed out perp, “…I’ve spent all of this time tying them up and you could have just done that?” she asks, trying to nudge him with her shoe and finding herself swaying down to join him on the ground instead when the alley insists on starting to spin again.

“Supervillain, remember?” Arms catch her around the waist and then she’s being hauled into the air before she loses her grasp on consciousness.

* * *

She comes to with gentle fingers running through her hair and a blessed numbness in her arm.

“Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty.”

“ _Shu’p._ ” She smacks her lips, letting her gaze wander dazedly across the ceiling above her, so similar and so not from her own, and over to… “Jeff?!”

“Annie!” he responds with mock surprise, throwing his hands into the air.

She stops, making a face, “You know who I am?”

“Since the first night, Rose Princess.”

“Flower Girl.” she corrects, “Then why are you my supervillain?”

Jeff laughs, his hand returning to its important job of running through her hair, “ _Your_ supervillain? Are we putting titles on this already?” She grunts, and he responds with a shrug, “I was bored. I wanted more cases. I’m a dick. Oh, and you let off this really interesting color whenever you’re happy and I was starting to miss it.”

“That’s kind of sappy, Jeff.”

“You’re the one that literally oozes happiness like glitter, Annie.”

“Still sappy.”

* * *

The Denver Post calls them The Flower Girl of East Colfax and the Supervillain Wingman.

She calls them The Crime Fighting Duo Flower Girl and Wingman.

The newspaper will catch on sooner or later.


	73. A How-To Guide to Making Flower Crowns 2x12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thecloseryoulook-thelessyousee on Tumblr asked for "Annie coaxes Jeff into a flower crown."

“ _Please_ , Jeff?”

He shakes his head, catching a brief glimpse of the multi-colored, overly-sweet smelling abomination held carefully in Annie’s hands, and tries to block out the shaky sound of her voice as he stares resolutely at the checkered pattern of the blanket near his hand. He can feel those wide, watery eyes on him, worming their way into his willpower and quickly boring through whatever self-control he has left.

“That’s not going to work twice in one day, Annie.” he says, intent on the loose string he’s picking at on the blanket and _not_ the flower crown she’s trying to hold out to him, “Can’t you just be happy I’m even agreeing to go to this dance?” Worse: he’s agreeing to go to this dance (”It’s time for Greendale’s annual Spring Dance!” “Dean, it’s only annual if we have one every -” “- _Annual_ Spring Dance! Yaaay!”) and he doesn’t even have the excuse of chaperoning it. No, he’s actually going to _attend_. All because Annie had turned to him and given him _that_ look as soon as they left the study room.

The same look that he’s suddenly face-to-face with as she leans right into his line of sight and says, “Pleeeeeaaaaase?”

Jeff is weak. He’s so weak, because whatever resolve he had disappears between one bat of Annie’s eyelashes and the next, “Fine. But no pictures.”

“Two pictures.”

“One picture.”

“Deal.” Annie responds, looking utterly thrilled as she presses against his side and reaches up to place the flower crown carefully onto his head.

“Please tell me you haven’t been carrying that around all day.” he says, nearly going cross-eyed (because dignity has gone right out the window by this point) as he stares up at the daisy hanging over his forehead.

“I made it. Don’t tell the Gardening club.” she chirps. She reaches up, readjusts a few flowers, and sits back with a grin and a nod of her head, “Now let’s go; we’re going to miss the start of the dance! I’m up for Spring Queen!”

“...Of course you are.”

His students will never be able to take him seriously again, but the way Annie beams at him for the rest of the night feels like an acceptable exchange.


	74. A Guide to Polite Cosplaying 2x13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Jeff and Annie meet at Comic Con. They bond over their Marvel costumes, and a dislike of Marvel.”

(” _Excuse me? Could I get a picture of you two? It’s for my website -_ ”)

Annie really should have known that Troy and Abed would guilt her into cosplaying and then ditch her the moment they got into Comic Con. She’s more than happy to place all of the blame on them for the fact that she’s ended up here, smile pasted on her face, one hand holding her fake gun pointed toward the camera, and the other wrapped around the waist of the very tall, very attractive Captain America she’d never met before in her life but made the mistake of standing a little too close to in line. (” _I thought Agent Carter was taller...?_ ”)

“I don’t even like Marvel movies.” she admits through gritted teeth, while people coo  and snap pictures and yell at the two of them. (” _What a cute couple!_ ”).

Captain America - Jeff; his lanyard said Jeff - huffs out a laugh, dazzling smile somehow never faltering, “ _Right_?! They’re just so...” He shakes his head, (” _Peggy! Cap! This way!_ ”) tightens his arm around her shoulders, “...Think we stand a chance of winning the couples costume contest?”

“We’re not a -” (” _...What about Bucky?_ ”)

“- C’mon, Peggy. Cash prize. I’ll even buy you dinner.”

“Deal.” (” _Did you hear Hayley Atwell said she thought they were soulmates?_ ”)


	75. A Beginner's Guide to First Dates and Almost-First Dates 2x14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ameliasfairytales was looking for a Jeff x Annie AU based on [this](http://likehemmins.tumblr.com/post/121044132161/imagine-that-youve-been-stood-up-by-your-douche) post. Or, "Annie gets stood up by a date at a restaurant. Jeff comes to her rescue."

The older couple at the next table over keep looking between her and the empty set across from her with pity, the busboy who can’t possibly be old enough to be working yet has already given her a second sympathy serving of complimentary bread, and the waitress’s question of “Are you ready to order yet?” are becoming more and more passive-aggressive as time goes on.

It’s fitting, then, that Annie’s claims have grown increasingly pathetic, from a nonchalant hand wave and a “I’m just early. He’ll be here.” to a shrug and “Traffic is bad. I’m sure he’s coming.” or a “Rich is really busy. He probably got caught up at work.” and, finally, “He’s just running late. I know he’ll be here soon.”

None of them, from the pitying couple to the pimply-faced busboy or the waitress staring at her like she can see her potential tip intake for the night decreasing by the minute, can bring themselves to just tell her the reality of the situation: she’s been stood up.

There’s a growing line of people waiting around the hostess stand and her phone sits dark on the table by her arm when, after half an hour, she finally has to acknowledge the inevitable. Rich isn’t coming, and she’s going to have to go home, find something bloody and violent to watch on Netflix, and not show her face to the world for a few days. At least Ben and Jerry won’t ditch her on date night.

Refusing to meet the eyes of anyone around her, she lifts her hand to catch the waitress’s attention -

\- and it’s suddenly being clasped and brought back to the table in a dry, reassuring grip as someone sinks into the chair across from her. Someone tall and attractive and smiling as he waves to the waitress.

“Sorry I’m so late, babe. Traffic is awful tonight.” he says, loud and emphatic as the waitress nears. Then, he leans in, and Annie feels herself drawn toward him across the table as he adds, “I’m Jeff. Just go with it, yeah? Because whoever had the nerve to stand you up is an asshat. He’s not even worth your time.”

Annie’s heart is pounding in her chest and she isn’t sure. This isn’t what she had planned. She’d made a list of topics to talk about with Rich, she’d - she’d created a schedule. Hell, she’d practiced what she was going to say! But Jeff is sitting there, well dressed like he really was here for a date, eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiles at her over his menu.

And his hand has never left her’s on the table, and it really isn’t much of a difficult choice at all as she smiles back at him.

Later, after learning about each other over dinner and ranting and laughing about her date-that-wasn’t around mouthfuls of dessert, Jeff will take her hand again as they walk out of the restaurant and ask, “So, what do you think? Will you go out with me tomorrow? On a real date this time.”

And that won’t be much of a difficult choice either when she nods and offers him her phone number.


	76. An Introductory Lesson in Laboratory Safety 2x15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For thecloseryoulook-thelessyousee on Tumblr, who wanted “I accidentally spilled hydrochloric acid on you so you really need to use the emergency shower and omg, if i knew you looked that good shirtless and wet i would have spilled it on you much earlier in the semester AU”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've spent the last two days teaching laboratory safety with my classes, so the timing was too hilarious to pass up.

Annie bites her lip, trying to pretend that she absolutely is _not_ letting her gaze rove up and down Jeff’s well-defined, glistening wet chest, “I’m really, _really_ sorry, Jeff. _Again_. I didn’t realize how close my elbow was to the bottle and… Hydrochloric acid, oh my god - I’m _sorry_.” she says, cringing as she feels the cold water from the emergency shower seeping into her flats.

He sags under the spray of water, nudging a bare foot against the spread of clothing laying ruined around him, “It’s fine, Annie. Really. I think my shirt caught all of it anyway.” he says, brushing water out of his eyes, “How much longer am I stuck here?”

The lab coat she’s been holding to hide him from view of the rest of the room sags in her grip as her eyes follow the trail of water making its way obscenely down the lines of his abs, “I… Uh. I - I think you should go with, uh, another fifteen minutes.” she rambles, cheeks heating when she meets his knowing gaze, “You know. Just to be safe.”


	77. I Can Hustle Pool and So Can You! 2x16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For thecloseryoulook-thelessyousee on Tumblr (happy belated birthday!), who asked for "In the big crossover-- Jeff makes money to support them in pool games across the country. Bonus points for him teaching Annie to play."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This can be considered a sequel to chapter 46 ("Crossover Origin Stories"). Essentially, a Community/Supernatural crossover where the world is ending and Annie is from a long line of hunters. Jeff… Not so much. Potentially a prequel to a much longer fic if that's something that would interest readers!

“F… Fuck _you_.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Better hurry before you miss your curfew, buddy.”

Jeff waits until the kid and his buddies - none of them over the age of twenty, if he had to bet - have stumbled from the bar and out onto the dimly lit street before he straightens from his slump and reaches for the wad of bills they’d left him on the table.

He counts them out in quick succession right there with his back to the rest of the room: one hundred and eighty six bucks. Not a great haul given his recent streak, but enough to get them back on the road away from Colorado.

The bartender’s disapproving look is piercing on the back of his head, but even if Jeff were ever the person to care about the judgement of some greasy middle-aged guy stuck working in a dump like this, he’s certainly not so anymore.

The end of the world is nigh, two idiots popped the lock on the devil’s cage, Heaven and Hell are at war, Death and Lucifer himself walk the goddamn Earth, and all of that. Opinions of the less in-the-know mean nothing anymore.

He glances around, and it is abundantly clear that he is out of prey for the night; the only bar-goers left too busy chugging away the sorrows of the Apocalypse without even realizing that’s what they’re drinking to.

Annie’s eyes are on him from the corner booth, still nursing the same brightly-colored cocktail she’s had since they walked in an hour ago with one of those stupid books that she never seems to be without anymore sitting at her elbow (”’ _Dark Side of the Moon_?’ You realize that’s a -” “Shut up, Jeff.” “We could buy dinner with that money instead you know” “ _Shut up, Jeff_.”). She looks distraught with the way she’s got her burner cell phone clutched tightly in her hands and totally out of place in the lazy atmosphere pervading the bar.

It’s the look that seems to be her default, nowadays.

“No luck, then?” he asks, jerking his chin towards the phone as he reaches for his beer.

Her response is an inelegant snort, a harsh sound in the lull of the small town bar, “Of course not.” she says. She releases her death grip on her phone to return to obsessively stirring the contents of her drink.

“Greendale?”

“Gone. They’re saying it was a freak wildfire, can you believe it?”

“The Study Group?”

“Gone. Their families haven’t heard from them since… Since.” She scrubs a hand over her face, rough nails catching on barely-healed scabs across her cheeks and coming away reddened, “You know I finally called Abed’s family? They didn’t know who I was talking about. Told me to ‘ _Fuck off, we know no one by that name._ ’“ she says, her voice a sad attempt at an accent.

Jeff cocks an eyebrow, downing the rest of his beer in a single swig, “Your family…?”

“No answer. So either they’re dead -” She barely stumbles over the word, this time, “- or I’m still disowned. Take your pick.”

“We’ll figure this out, Ann. Or we’ll keep driving until the world crashes and burns around us.” he says. Then, he reaches across the table to pry her hand away from her face, “Now come here. Billiards. Me against you.”

“I don’t know how to -”

He pulls her up, leading her back toward the pool table with her hand clasped tightly in his, “You’ll just have to learn. We’re doing this hunter thing, then you’ve got to know how to hustle.”

She balks, eyeing the table distrustfully, “That’s so dishonest!”

“Well, seeing as this is how the boys in those books you’re so obsessed with make their cash, either I’m no more dishonest than them, or it’s really not that bad.” he says, shrugging and holding a cue out to her.

“Yeah, but they’re… They’re the _Winchesters_.” she argues weakly, taking the cue from him and allowing herself to be guided to the edge of the table.

“And we’re two poor presumed dead community college students. Your point?” He reaches forward to flip the cue around in her hands, “Okay, ready? Lean over the table a little bit.”

“This is already starting to sound like a really inappropriate movie.” she grumbles, watching him rack the balls.

“Be quiet.” He elbows her in the arm, feels himself relax infinitesimally at the small smile tugging at the corners of her lips, “Now put your hand on the table… Good. Put your index finger on top of the stick, thumb underneath. No - no like - _there_. And just try to hit the cue ball - no, the white one - as straight and hard as you can.”

There’s a _crack_ , and the cue ball goes flying past the lineup of balls and right into the side of the table. He ducks his head, trying to muffle a snort.

“Shut up. Like you were always good at this.” She looks him up and down as she pulls away from the table, “Coach Bogner would be so disappointed in you - wearing a leather jacket to play pool.”

“…Are you suggesting I strip again? Because I don’t think the bartender would be too amused by that.” He reaches for the collar of his jacket, grinning when her hands fly up to stop him.

“No! No, don’t do that! We’re good!” she babbles.

He hums, nudging her back toward the table, “Try again. You’ll learn this.” he says gently.

She lines her cue up again and, this time, she spins back toward him with a grin when the rest of the balls go bouncing around the table, “How did you learn this, anyway? Pool doesn’t seem like you’re type of thing.”

“Those guys in your books weren’t the only ones who had to make money somehow. Dad left when I was pretty young, and adults are stupid and cocky about betting against little kids at this kind of thing.” he explains.

“Oh. My parents… They had day jobs between hunts. We never really had to worry about the money.” Annie responds, letting Jeff lead her around the table to line up her next shot.

“The pre-Apocalyptic American Dream.” he jokes, “Now, you’re going to try to get that solid green ball in that corner pocket. See it? And maybe pull your top down a little bit. If you can’t beat them, distract them long enough to grab their wallet and run.”

She groans, “You’re awful.”

“And yet you chose me. Now take your shot.”


	78. A Guide to Halloween Hauntings 2x17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AKA: "Stairway to the Stars"
> 
> The Winchesters are busy; something about The Wicked Witch of the West in the Bunker. So when weird things start happening at The Winchester Mystery House, who better to investigate than Jeff and Annie? And what better night than Halloween?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of a Community/Supernatural crossover series called "Waypoints" (others [[here]](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1945917/chapters/4851504) and [[here]](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1945917/chapters/11224171), wherein Jeff and Annie are monster-hunters, and written as a quick fic for Halloween. No knowledge of Supernatural required.
> 
> And here's a link for those curious about [The Winchester Mystery House](http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/).  
> Cross-posted as its own story [[here]](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5120246).

The stairs creak ominously under his feet, the low whine of wood bending beneath his weight. He keeps his flashlight trained intently on the next step and -

\- lets out a loud yelp as his head slams into the ceiling, “God fu-” He stumbles back a step, hands scrabbling for purchase against smooth wood siding and not finding anything, and finds himself tumbling backwards down the stairs.

“Jeff, shut up! We can’t - ow!”

Annie breaks his fall, taking them both down in a tangle of limbs and a clattering of equipment as their flashlights go spinning off across the hardwood floor. He thinks it’s no small miracle that neither of their shotguns go off in the momentary chaos.

He reaches over Annie for his flashlight before he climbs to his feet, offering his hand to her as he points the beam of light back toward where he’d come, trailing up the stairs until it’s interrupted, inexplicably, by a ceiling a dozen steps up.

“This is the second goddamn staircase like that.” he says, glaring at where stair meets ceiling as if at any moment their unknown spirit might appear and explain this newest bit of mysterious design to him.

There’s no such luck, and the sprawling house remains just as eerily silent as it has been for the past hour.

“They’re Stairs to Nowhere.” Annie says from behind him like the walking encyclopedia of all things weird and creepy that she was, leaning down to retrieve her shotgun and flashlight from where they’d slid in the tumble, “The story goes that they’re supposed to confuse the spirits haunting the family that lived here.”

“I’d say a sudden ceiling would do it. You know, just in case the door opening into a wall or the sudden pit to the kitchen didn’t do it. I’ll be lucky if I don’t have brain damage by the end of this.” Jeff grumbles, scrubbing his free hand through his hair as he searches the floor for his gun. God forbid he allow himself to be jumped by one of these supposed to spirits on top of the concussion he’s almost certainly already earned himself tonight.

She has to reach up to pat his shoulder consolingly, but the look on her face is nowhere near as pitying, “You’ll recover. I did try to warn you, you know. This entire house is supposed to a spirit trap. Mrs. Winchester was -”

“ - Yeah, that reminds me.” he interrupts, turning away from the “Stairs to Nowhere” and leading the way back down the hall, “Why aren’t, you know, the Winchesters investigating the Winchester House, again?”

Annie hums thoughtfully, her flashlight trailing slow searching patterns along the walls, “Something about The Wicked Witch of the West?” She shrugs, “I don’t know. Sam said they were occupied and knew we were still in California anyway. Figured it would be an easy case to get us back into the swing of things, I guess.” She tugs on his sleeve, jerking her head toward a new hallway to their right.

He follows along behind her obediently, letting her take point. It’s instinct by now, to be the one watching Annie’s back while she takes lead, and a few months of vacation out of the business hasn’t changed that. Annie knows what she’s doing, has a veritable lifetime of experience rattling around in that gigantic brain of hers that can bag them the monster and keep them both safe. Jeff’s own five years in the hunting business can’t even compare to the artful way that she slides through a case; shotgun pointed unwaveringly in front of her and each step quiet and calculated.

He feels like a schoolboy with a crush.

Except with the added bonus of being able to go back to the motel and make out with her when all of this is over.

“Sarah Winchester, the woman who originally owned this house, was the heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune. It’s believed that a medium -” She interrupts herself with a snort, a lifelong derision of psychics overriding a constant need to be spouting off morbid random bits of information, “- told her that she was being haunted by the spirits of everyone who had been killed by the rifles. So she moved West, built this house, and thought that as long as she kept building, she’d keep them appeased.” She gestures around her with her flashlight, and Jeff knows she’s rolling her eyes even in the near-blackness of the house.

“So what? 80-some odd years after her death, and suddenly the spirits have been let loose again to go after all of those clearly evil minimum wage tour guides? You ever think maybe this is just a really fucking dangerous place to work?” Jeff asks, flashlight beam reflecting off of a window that opens right onto the wall behind it.

“Well, I mean, it would make sense that all of that negative energy would build up in a place like this. Thousands and thousands of people visiting and hearing the legend? That has power. Plus, it’s Halloween.” she says. She takes another turn to the left to follow a staircase that goes seven steps down and twelve up, and Jeff finds himself thoroughly lost by this point.

“What difference does that make? Halloween is just human bullshit.”

“No, not really. It has some basis in fact. It’s when the barrier between our world and the Veil are thinnest, you know?” He doesn’t know, but he hums his agreement anyway to prompt her to continue her brainy rambling, “So, um. Imagine you have a door. And it’s got a hundred different locks and deadbolts and chains holding it shut.” She gestures widely with her hands, flashlight beam glancing across a chandelier above their heads as they continue to walk, “Some Big Bad is still going to get through with the right battering ram. But, the closer you get to Halloween, it’s like more and more of those locks are left undone. So by October 31st, you have a plain boring door and any old spirit with enough knowledge to turn the handle can get through. They’re probably drawn by the energy here.”

“My god.” he says exasperatedly, stopping right in the middle of the hallway until she’s forced to turn and look at him, “You’re such a nerd.”

She snorts, “And you’re an ass. But you don’t hear me telling you that.”

“No, really. It’s a miracle you have any room in that brain of yours for knowledge of mere mortal things. It’s got to be packed full of geeky.” Jeff teases.

“Well maybe if you stopped thinking with your - “ She stops, mouth agape and eyes widening as they land on something over his shoulder at the same time as the EMF detector in his pocket squeals to life, “- Jeff! It just went back that way! Let’s go!” And she’s flying past him, boots echoing loudly off the walls of the cramped hallway while he’s left with no choice but to run after her.

He can see the source of Annie’s excitement just feet in front of them, the blurred, smokey image of an old woman in an outfit at least a hundred years out of date picking up speed as she flees from them. He recognizes her. Of course he does. Research might be more Annie’s gig than his, but the pictures of Mrs. Sarah Winchester were kind of unavoidable in any search for information about the house.

“I told you! I told you it wasn’t nothing!” she shouts, shoes skidding and squeaking on waxed wooden floors as she takes a sharp turn at the end of the hall, “Maybe the spirits have her trapped here! She’s trying to show us!”

He makes the turn just in time to see the ghost of the old woman vanish through the doorway a few feet in front of them, Annie right on her tail. He watches as she yanks the door open, one foot already through before he’s able to reach her and pull her back by the collar of her shirt.

They tumble back to the floor for the second time that night, Annie landing hard against his chest with a gasp. She’s staring down at him with furrowed brows, and Jeff’s half-convinced she’s going to kiss him right then and there.

So it comes as a bit of a surprise when she scrambles off of him with a snarl, “What the hell was that for? She was leading us somewhere!”

“You’re welcome.” He groans, slower to push himself to his feet now that it feels like every bone in his body has been thoroughly bruised, “She was leading us somewhere, alright. Right off the fucking second floor.” He pointed toward the door that had been left ajar, opening into thin air with a view of the sprawling Winchester estate beyond.

“Door to Nowhere.” Annie grumbles, and Jeff is completely unsurprised. Count on Annie to know the name of the thing she almost died running through. Poking her head out cautiously to eye the concrete two stories below, it finally, finally seems like the reality of what just happened seems to hit her as she lets out an angry huff of breath and turns back to face him, “The bitch just tried to kill me!”

“Almost did, too.” Jeff responds, carefully tugging her back away from the door by her arm, “Now, c’mon. We know who our murderous spirit is. We can get the hell out of here before this house kills us.”

She nods, tossing Jeff’s shotgun back to him, “Right. Let’s go burn the old hag.”


End file.
